/ 


V 


Publications  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 


SERIES    IN 


Philology  Literature  and  Archaeology 


Vol.  IV     No.  3 


THE    WAR  OF  THE   THEATRES 


JOSIAH    H.   PENNIMAN 

ASSISTANT    PROFESSOR    OF   ENGLISH    LITEKATURE    IN    THE 
UNIVERSITY   OF    PENNSYLVANIA 


GINN  &  COMPANY  MAX  NIEMEYER 

Agents  for  United  -States,  Canada  and  England  Agent  for  the  Continent  of  Europe 

9-13  Tremont  Place,  Boston,  U.S.A.  Halle,  n.  S.,  Germany. 


v; 


The  Papers  of  this  Series,  prepared  by  Professors  and  others  connected 
with  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  will  take  the  form  of  Monographs  on  the 
subjects  of  Philology,  Literature,  and  Archaeology,  whereof  about  200  or  250  pages 
will  form  a  volume.     Each  Monograph,  however,  is  complete  in  itself. 

The  price  to  subscribers  to  the  Series  will  be  $2.00  per  volume ;  to  others 
than  subscribers  the  numbers  will  be  sold  separately  at  the  regular  prices. 

It  is  the  intention  of  the  University  to  issue  these  Monographs  from  time 
to  time  as  they  shall  be  prepared. 

Each  author  assumes  the  responsibility  of  his  own  contribution. 

7 5-3^0 


PREFACE 


This  monograph  contains  some  results  of  the  study  of  a 
group  of  Elizabethan  plays,  closely  related  to  each  other, 
because  all  connected  with  the  quarrel  of  Jonson  and  Marston, 
an  incident  in  the  history  of  the  drama  to  which  has  been 
given  the  name  "The  War  of  the  Theatres."  Single  plays 
and  the  plays  of  individual  authors  have  long  occupied  the 
attention  of  critics  and  editors,  but  the  intimate  relationship 
of  groups  of  plays,  as  a  feature  of  what  we  may  term  the 
organic  unity  of  the  Elizabethan  drama,  has  received  from 
students  less  attention  than  it  deserves. 

The  purpose  of  the  present  treatment  is  to  set  forth  some 
conclusions  concerning  the  plays,  and  the  facts  upon  which 
the  conclusions  are  based.  A  number  of  erroneous  views 
that  have  been  held  by  critics  are  referred  to  incidentally, 
but  it  has  been  no  part  of  the  plan  to  discuss  all  of  the  numer- 
ous mistakes  that  have  been  made  in  attempts  to  identify 
characters. 

I  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging  here  the  courteous 
interest  in  this  work  which  has  been  shown  by  Mr.  F.  G. 
Fleay  of  London,  and  also  the  kindness  of  my  colleague 
Dr.  Child,  who  made  the  index  ;  but  especially  do  I  wish  to 
record  my  grateful  appreciation  of  the  valuable  suggestions 
and  generous  aid  of  my  friend  and  teacher  Professor 
Schelling. 


JOSIAH    H.   PENNIMAN. 


University  ok  Pennsylvania, 
May  24,  1897. 


OK   Tf,,,     ^) 


THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 


THE    SATIRES    OF    MARSTON. 

"The  War  of  the  Theatres"  is  a  term  which  has  been 
applied  to  the  quarrels  of  Marston  and  Dekker  with  Ben 
Jonson,  which  found  expression  in  satirical  plays.  To  this 
"war"  is  due  the  close  relationship  which  exists  between  the 
works  of  these  dramatists  between  1598  and  1602.  Whether 
any  other  dramatists  took  part  in  this  contest  is  almost  wholly 
conjectural,  and  the  present  discussion  of  the  subject  will  be 
confined  chiefly  to  the  works  of  the  three  authors  mentioned. 
That  Shakespeare  may  have  taken  a  hand  in  the  quarrel  seems 
alto-ether  likely  from  the  well-known  passage  in  The  Return 
from  Parnassus  ;  but  there  is  no  other  direct  evidence  that  he 
did,  and  the  indirect  evidence  is,  unfortunately,  inconclusive. 

This  monograph  is  an  attempt  to  show  the  relationship  of 
the  plays  of  which  it  treats,  as  regards  the  personal  satire 
contained  in  them,  by  setting  forth  such  evidence  as  has  been 
found  for  the  identification  of  the  characters.  The  plays 
which  will  be  discussed,  in  whole  or  in  part,  are  Every  Man  in 
his  Humour,  Histridmastix,  The  Case  is  Altered,  Every  Man 
out  of  his  Humour,  Patient  Grissil,  Jack  Drum,  Cynthia  s 
Revels,  Antonio  and  Mellida,  Part  I.,  Poetaster,  Satiromastix, 
What  you  Will,  The  Return  from  Parnassus,  and  Troilus 
and  Cressida. 


2  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

"The  War  of  the  Theatres"  has  been  commented  upon  by 
many  critics  at  various  times,  and  there  exists  almost  unanimity 
of  opinion  that  Marston's  Satires  were  in  some  way  the  cause 
of  the  quarrel.  There  has  been,  however,  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  passages  in  which  Jonson  is  by  some  critics 
supposed  to  be  satirized.  Two  passages  in  Marston's  Scourge 
of  Villanie  contain  allusions  to  Torquatus,  and  it  has  been 
accepted  traditionally  that  Jonson  is  the  person  intended.  If 
this  interpretation  of  the  passages  is  correct,  then  The  Scourge 
of  Villanie  (1598)  is  the  earliest  extant  literary  expression  of 
the  differences  between  Jonson  and  Marston.  Against  the 
theory  that  The  Scourge  of  Villanie  is  the  first  attack  on 
Jonson,  must  be  taken  into  consideration  his  own  statements 
concerning  the  beginning  of  the  quarrel.  In  the  Apologetical 
Dialogue  appended  to  Poetaster,  first  printed  in  the  folio  of 
1616,  and  stated  to  have  been  "only  once  spoken  upon  the 
stage,"  Jonson  says  :  — 

but  sure  I  am,  three  years 
They  did  provoke  me  with  their  petulant  styles 
On  every  stage  ;  and  I  at  last,  unwilling, 
But  weary,  I  confess,  of  so  much  trouble, 
Thought  I  would  try  if  shame  could  win  upon  'em.1 

This  is  Jonson's  first  direct  mention  of  the  subject.  His 
second  direct  mention  of  the  "War  of  the  Theatres"  is  in  the 
Conversations  zvith  Drummond. 

He  had  many  quarrells  with  Marston,  beat  him,  and  took  his  pistol  from 
him,  wrote  his  Poetaster  on  him  ;  the  beginning  of  them  were  that  Marston 
represented  him  in  the  stage,  in  his  youth  given  to  venerie.2 


1  Works  of  Ben  Jonson,  ed.  1640,  I.  308. 

*  Notes  0/  Ben  Jonson's  Conversations  with  William  Drummond  of  Hawthorn- 
den,  edited  by  David  Laing,  Shakespeare  Society,  London,  1842,  p.  20. 


THE    SATIRES    OF    MARSTON.  3 

Both  these  statements  attribute  the  beginning  of  the  quarrel 
to  some  stage  representation,  which,  of  course,  could  not  apply 
to  The  Scourge  of  Villanie,  a  satire  in  verse. 

Out  of  respect  to  tradition,  and  despite  the  statement  just 
made,  we  must  examine  Marston's  Satires.  The  critics  have 
in  almost  every  case  dismissed  the  matter  with  a  simple  affirm- 
ation, and  in  no  instance  has  any  good  reason  for  the  iden- 
tification of  Torquatus  with  Jonson  been  vouchsafed.  It  is 
often  extremely  difficult  at  this  late  date  fully  to  understand  a 
meaning  which  may  have  been  clear  to  Elizabethan  readers,  and 
many  allusions  must  forever  remain  wholly  unrecognized  as 
such.  A  careful  examination  of  the  allusions  of  Marston  to 
Torquatus  is  productive  of  some  interesting  evidence  that  the 
traditional  identification  of  Torquatus  with  Jonson  is  correct. 
While  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  much  of  Marston's  satire  is 
aimed  at  his  rival  Hall,1  yet  the  allusions  to  Torquatus  seem 
to  be  somewhat  distinct  from  the  general  satire. 

The  first  mention  of  Torquatus  is  in  a  note  prefixed  to 
the  first  edition  of  The  Scourge  of  Villanic,  1 598.  It  is  as 
follows  : — 

TO    THOSE    THAT    SEEME    JUDICIALL    PERUSERS. 

Knowe,  I  hate  to  affect  too  much  obscuritie  and  harshnesse,  because  they 
profit  no  sense.  To  note  vices,  so  that  no  man  can  understand  them,  is  as 
fond  as  the  French  execution  in  picture.  Vet  there  are  some  (too  many) 
that  thinke  nothing  good  that  is  so  curteous  as  to  come  within  their  reach. 
Tearming  all  Satyres  bastard  which  are  not  palpable  darke,  and  so  rough 
writ  that  the  hearing  of  them  read  would  set  a  mans  teeth  on  edge  ;  for 
whose  unseasoned  palate  I  wrote  the  first  Satyre,  in  some  places  too 
obscure,  in  all  places  mislyking  me.  Yet  when  by  some  scurvie  chaunce  it 
shall  come  into  the  late  perfumed  fist  of  judiciall  Torquatus  (that  like  some 
rotten  stick  in  a  troubled  water,  hath  gotte  a  great  deale  of  barmie  froth  to 


1  For  a  discussion  of  this  point,  see  The  Works  of  John  Marston,  edited  by 
A.  H.  Bullen,  1887,  I.  xvii-xxiv. 


4  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

stick  to  his  sides),  I  knowe  hee  will  vouchsafe  it  some  of  his  new-minted 
epithets  (as  reall,  intrinsecate,  Delphicke),1  when  in  my  conscience  hee 
understands  not  the  least  part  of  it.  But  from  thence  proceedes  his 
judgment.  Persius  is  crabby,2  because  auntient,  and  his  jerkes  (being 
perticularly  given  to  private  customes  of  his  time)  dusky.  Juvenall  (upon 
the  like  occasion)  seemes  to  our  judgment,  gloomy,  etc. 

W.    KlNSAYDER. 

The  three  editors  of  Marston,  Halliwell,3  Dr.  Grosart,4  and 
Mr.  Bullen,5  make  the  following  comments  on  Torquatus  and 
the  "new-minted  epithets." 

Halliwell,  in  his  Preface,6  speaking  of  the  quarrel  between 
Marston  and  Jonson,  does  nothing  more  than  quote  approvingly 
Gifford's  note  on  Poetaster,  V.  I,  in  which,  after  speaking 
of  the  terms  used  by  Marston  and  ridiculed  by  Jonson,  Gifford 
says  :  — 

The  works  which  our  author  had  chiefly  in  view  [i.e.  in  Poetaster} 
were  The  Scourge  of  Villanie  and  the  two  parts  of  Antonio  and  Mellida. 
In  the  former  of  these,  Jonson  is  ridiculed  under  the  name  of  Torquatus, 
for  his  affected  use  of  "  new-minted  words,"  such  as  reall,  intrinsecate,  and 
Delphicke,  which  are  all  found  in  his  earliest  comedies.7 

Dr.  Grosart  in  the  Preface  to  his  edition  of  Marston  s  Poems 
thus  comments  on  the  Satires  :  — 

I  do  not  know  the  "  venerie  "  allusions  in  Marston's  play,  or  plays,  that 
aroused  the  anger  of  Jonson.     But  "browne  Ruscus  "  of  the  opening  of 


1  Rev.  Thomas  Corser  says  that  Torquatus  .  .  .  reall,  intrinsecate,  Dephicke, 
refers  to  Hall.     Collectanea  Anglo-Poetica,  V.  13. 

2  Hall  calls   Persius    "crabbed,"  Horace,    "more   smooth."     Virgidemiarum, 
Book  V.  Sat.  I.  line  10. 

3  The    Works   of  fohn  Marston,    reprinted  from    the   original    editions,   with 
notes  and  some  account  of  his  Life  and  Writings,  by  J.  O.  Halliwell,  London,  1856. 

4  fohn  Marston's  Poems,  edited  by  A.  B.  Grosart,  Manchester,  1879. 

5  The  Works  of  fohn  Marston,  ed.  Bullen,  Boston,  1887. 
0  p.  xii. 

7  The  Works  of  Ben  fonson,  edited  by  W.  Gifford,  London,  1816,  II.  517. 


I1IK    SMIRKS    OF    MARSTON.  5 

Satire  I.  .  .  .  along  with  the  Metamorphosis  ...  is  a  flagellation  of  him  that 
must  have  told  on  the  "  Autocrat  ...  of  the  Mermaid."  Torquatus,  also  of 
these  Satires,  unmistakably  points  to  Jonson.  Let  the  reader  study  To 
those  that  seem  Judiciall  Perusers.  The  words  reall.  intrinsecate, 
Delphicke  are  well-known  Jonsonese.1 

This,  it  will  be  seen,  dismisses  the  whole  matter  without  a 
particle  of  proof  that  Torquatus  is  Jonson,  and  the  remark  that 
"  the  words  reall,  intrinsecate,  and  Delphicke  are  well-known 
Jonsonese  "  is  rather  bold  when  we  find  by  careful  examina- 
tion of  Jonson's  works  only  six  instances  in  which  any  one  of 
these  three  words  is  used.2 

Mr.  Bullen,  the  most  recent  editor  of  Marston,  calls  the  allu- 
sion to  Torquatus  and  the  "new-minted  epithets"  "a  hit  at 
Ben  Jonson,"3  and  in  his  Introduction  thus  comments  on  the 
passage  :  — 

In  the  address  "  To  those  that  seem  Judiciall  Perusers"  prefixed  to  The 
Scourge  of  Villafiie,  Marston  undoubtedly  ridicules  Ben  Jonson  for  his 
use  of  "  new-minted  epithets  (as  reall,  intrinsecate,  Delphicke').''''  Reall 
occurs  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  II.  i;  intrinsecate  in  Cynthia's 
Revels,  V.  2,  and  Delphicke  in  an  early  poem  of  Jonson's.  But  as  Every 
Man  out  of  his  Humour  was  first  produced  at  Christmas,  1 599,  and 
Cynthia's  Revels  in  1600,  these  "new-minted  epithets"  must  have  been 
used  by  Jonson  in  some  early  plays  that  have  perished.4 

Mr.  Bullen,  it  will  be  observed,  gives  not  a  single  valid 
reason  for  supposing  that  Marston's  mention  of  Torquatus 
in  1598  is  an  allusion  to  Jonson. 

We  must  notice  here  the  passages  in  the  Chronicle  of  the 
English  Drama,  by  Mr.  Fleay,  in  which  mention  is   made   of 


1  fohn  Marston  s  Poems,  ed.  Grosart,  Preface,  p.  xlviii. 

2  Dr.  Giosart's  note  on  the  allusion  to  Torquatus  in  Satire  XI.  of  The  Scourge 
of  Villanie  is  mentioned  below. 

8  The  Works  of  fohn  Marston,  ed.  Bullen,  III.  305,  note. 
*  ibid.,  I.  xxx. 


O  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Marston's   Satires  and  their  connection  with  the  "War  of  the 
Theatres."       The  passages  are  as  follows  :  — 

It  is  clear  that  the  beginning  of  the  turmoil  among  the  three  theatrical 
houses  arose  from  Marston's  abuse  of  Jonson,  and  praise  of  Daniel  in  his 
Satires.1 

Marston's  Satires  are  very  important  for  dramatic  history.  They  were 
indirectly  the  origin  of  the  three  years'  stage  war  between  Jonson  and 
Marston,  Dekker,  etc.2 

A  little  further  on  we  find  :  — 

But  in  all  these  Satires  I  find  no  one  attacked  but  rival  satirists,  and  no 
trace  of  enmity  to  Jonson  or  any  playwright.3 

The  last  passage  seems  to  contradict  the  other  two,  which 
contain  the  correct  view  of  the  matter. 

Let  us  examine  the  passages  in  Marston's  Scourge  of  Villanie 
and  see  first  whether  there  is  any  significance  in  the  name 
Torquatus  as  applied  to  Jonson.  We  read  in  Roman  History 
that  Titus  Manlius  was  called  "Torquatus  "  because  he  slew  a 
Gaul  in  single  combat  and  took  from  him  his  torques,  or  chain, 
and  wore  it.4  This  stripping  of  the  fallen  foe  constituted  spolia 
opima.  "Torquatus"  as  an  adjective  was  applied  to  soldiers 
who  were  for  special  bravery  presented  with  a  torques,  or  neck 
chain.  It  was  used  also  of  anything  which  one  might  have 
around  the  neck.  "  Torquatus  "  as  a  noun  might  be  translated 
"the  man  with  something  around  his  neck."  With  these  facts 
let  us  compare  certain  facts  in  the  life  of  Ben  Jonson.  In  the 
Conversations  with  Drummond  we  find  the  following  interesting 
parallel  to  the  case   of   Titus   Manlius.     Jonson  is  quoted  as 


1  A  Biographical  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  by  F.   G.   Fleay,  London, 
1891,  I.  97. 

2  ibid.,  II.  69. 
8  ibid. 

4  Cic.  Fin.,  I.  7.  23. 


THE    SATIRES    OF    MARSTON.  7 

having  said  that  "in  his  service  in  the  Low  Countries  he  had  in 
the  face  of  both  the  campes  killed  ane  enemie  and  taken  opt)>ta 
spolia  from  him."  l 

This  is  parallel  to  the  deed  for  which  Titus  Manlius  received 
his  name  "  Torquatus."  The  second  use  of  the  term  Torqua- 
tus,  "the  man  with  something  around  his  neck,"  is  not  without 
a  satirical  application  to  Jonson,  who  is  made  to  say  that  after 
his  return  from  the  Low  Countries  "  being  appealed  to  the 
fields,  he  had  killed  his  adversarie,  which  [who]  had  hurt 
him  in  the  arme,  and  whose  sword  was  ten  inches  longer  than 
his  ;  for  the  which  he  was  emprissoned,  and  almost  at  the 
gallowes."2 

The  original  indictment  shows  that  the  duel  was  fought  on 
Sept.  22,  1598,  and  that  Jonson's  arraignment  at  the  Old 
Bailey  was  in  October  following.  This  document  tells  us  with 
reference  to  Jonson's  trial :  — 

Cogn'  indictament  petit  librum  legit  ut  Cl'icus  sign'  cum  l'r'a  T,  Et  delr 
juxta  formam  statut',  etc. 

In  English,  thus:  — 

He  confesses  the  indictment,  asks  for  the  book,  reads  like  a  clerk,  is 
marked  with  the  letter  T,  and  is  delivered  according  to  the  statute,  etc.8 

Jonson  escaped  the  gallows  by  his  ability  to  "con  his  neck- 
verse."  The  adjective  "  Torquatus  "  has  a  peculiar  significance 
in  such  a  case. 

Marston  was  a  university  man,  having  been  given  his  B.A. 
by  Oxford,4  and  familiar  with  Roman  history  and  the  classic 


1  /orison's  Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  18. 

2  ibid.,  p.  19. 

3  The  whole  document  is  reprinted  in  The  Atheiuruin,   March  6,  18S6,  p.  337. 

4  Ilalliwell  says  Marston  got  his  degree  in  February,  1592,  old  style,  Marston, 

I.  v.  ;   Mr.  Fleay  puts   the  date    1593,  new  style,  Chronicle  0/  the  English  Drama, 

II.  68;   Mr.  Bullen  gives  the  date  1593-94,  Works  of  Marston,  I.  xii. 


8  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

use  of  the  adjective  "  Torquatus."  Moreover,  as  Jonson  was 
a  pedantic  Latin  scholar,  a  reference  to  him  as  "Torquatus" 
was  a  satirical  compliment  to  his  learning.1 

The  "late-perfumed  fist  of  Judiciall  Torquatus"  may  possi- 
bly be  an  allusion  to  the  fact  that  Jonson  had,  as  a  consequence 
of  his  duel,  been  branded  on  the  thumb  with  the  Tyburn 
mark,  as  we  are  told  in  the  passage  quoted  above  from  the 
indictment.2 

Marston's  Scourge  of  Villanie  was  entered,  Stationers'  Reg- 
ister Sept.  8,  1598,  but  it  was  probably  not  published  until 
some  weeks,  or  even  months,  after  entry,  and  the  fact  that  the 
duel  occurred  Sept.  22,  two  weeks  after  the  date  of  entry 
recorded  for  The  Scourge,  does  not  seriously  interfere  with  the 
probability  of  the  allusion  to  Jonson's  duel.  The  preface  "  To 
those  that  Seeme  Judiciall  Perusers  "  was,  of  course,  the  last 
thing  written  for  the  book,  and  touched  upon  an  event  which 
had  just  occurred.  In  the  first  passage  in  which  Torquatus  is 
mentioned,3  he  is  spoken  of  as  likely  to  apply  to  Marston's 
work  "new-minted  epithets,"  such  as  reall,  intrinsecate, 
Delphicke. 

Gifford  affirms  that  these  words  are  all.  "to  be  found  in 
Jonson's  earliest  comedies,"  which  may  be  perfectly  true, 
but  is  no  proof  of  the  intended  allusion  to  Jonson,  because 
Marston's  Scourge  of    Villanie,  in  which  this  allusion  occurs, 

1  It  is  not  impossible  that  the  idea  of  stripping  a  fallen  foe,  connoted  by  the 
term  Torquatus,  from  its  application  to  Titus  Manlius,  may,  when  the  same  term 
is  used  of  Jonson,  contain  an  allusion  to  the  incident  related  by  Jonson  to  Drum- 
mond,  "  He  beat  Marston  and  took  his  pistoll  from  him."  Conversations  of  Jonson 
■with  Druvimond,  p.  II.     See  also  p.  20. 

2  There  have  been  doubts  expressed  as  to  whether  or  not  Jonson  was  actually 
branded  with  a  hot  iron,  there  being  apparently  no  allusion  to  it  in  Satiromastix, 
in  which  almost  every  other  incident  in  connection  with  the  duel  is  mentioned. 
For  a  discussion  of  this  point,  see  The  Athenaum,  March  6,  1886,  p.  337,  and 
June  19,  1886,  p.  823. 

3  "To  those  that  Seeme  Judiciall  Perusers." 


THE    SATIRES    OF    MARSTON.  9 

was  published  in  1598,  in  which  year  Every  Man  in  his 
Humour  is  the  only  extant  work  of  Jonson's  that  had  been 
acted.  It  is  not  necessary,  however,  that  the  words  ridiculed 
should  have  been  used  in  plays,  as  there  is  no  particular  allu- 
sion to  Torquatus  as  a  dramatist.  An  examination  of  Jonson's 
work  reveals  some  interesting  facts  concerning  his  use  of  two 
of  the  ridiculed  words  in  very  early  extant  work.  While  it 
is  well  recognized  that  much  of  Jonson's  earliest  work  has 
probably  been  lost,  yet  we  have  no  right  in  the  present  case  to 
base  any  hypothesis  on  non-extant  work.  Mr.  Bullen  seems  to 
do  this  in  his  note  quoted  above. 

Gifford  noticed  Jonson's  use  of  the  word  reall  (=  regal)  in 
Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  and  remarked  that  in  the 
quarto  it  is  printed  with  a  capital,  "Real  Entertainment."1 
In  the  quarto,  1601,  of  Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  we  find 
"  and  entertaine  a  perfect  reall  substance,"  2  and  in  the  next 
scene  we  find  Lorenzo,  Junior,  speaking"  of  "  reall  ornaments." 
These  uses  of  the  word  are  probably  prior  to  Marston's  sup- 
posed allusion,  for  the  quarto  contains  the  text  of  the  play  as 
first  acted  and  differs  in  many  ways  from  the  altered  version  of 
the  play  printed  for  the  first  time  in  the  folio  of  1616.  The 
text  as  given  in  the  quarto  is  the  one  to  which  Marston  would 
refer  in  The  Scourge  in  1  598. 

Jonson  uses  intrinsccatc,  the  second  of  the  ridiculed  terms, 
but  not  in  any  extant  work  earlier  than  Cynthia  s  Revels  (1600), 
V.  2,  a  fact  noted  also  by  Mr.  Bullen.3  The  third  word,  Del- 
phicke,  is  found  in  Jonson's  work  and  in  two  passages  both 
very   early.       "Delphic    riddling"    is    Jonson's    translation   of 


1  II.  1.  -  I.  1. 

3  "  Intrinsecate  is  one  of  the  'new-minted  epithets  '  that  Marston  accuses  Hen 
Jonson,  'Judiciall  Torquatus'  of  vouchsafing  to  his  (Marston's)  Satires.  I'.ut 
'intrinsecate'  used  also  by  Shakespeare,  was  at  least  sixty-eight  years  old  when 
Marston  wrote,  for  it  occurs  in  the  probably  unique  Fantasy  of  the  passion  of  ye  fox 
lately  of  the  towtie  of  My  re  a  I y  tele  besyde  Shaftsburye  in  the  dyouses  of  Salysbury. 


IO  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

sortilegis  Delphis  in  the  Ars  Poetica,  line  219.  As  to  the 
date  of  this  we  have  Jonson's  general,  and  probably  only 
approximately  correct,  statement  in  1619,  that  this  translation 
of  the  Ars  Poetica  was  made  "  twenty  years  since."  1  Accept- 
ing this  as  an  exact  statement,  the  date  would  be  1599  ;  but 
there  is  no  reason  why  it  might  not  have  been  1598  or  even 
earlier,  as  the  expression  "twenty  years  since"  may  certainly 
be  taken  as  only  approximate.  The  fact  that  Jonson  "keept 
[it]  long  in  wrytt  as  a  secret"2  may  indicate  that  Marston 
could  not  have  seen  it  as  early  as  1598. 

One  other  use  of  the  word  DcIpJiic  occurs  in  the  Ode  to 
Desmond,  Undenvoods,  XLIII.  We  have  no  evidence  that 
Marston  ever  saw  these  passages,  but  it  is  significant  that  they 
exist  at  all  in  early  work.  A  much  later  use  of  the  word  by 
Jonson  is  to  be  found  in  his  Timber  in  the  Character  principis, 
where  he  speaks  of  the  "Delphic  sword."3 

These  uses  of  the  terms  ridiculed  by  Marston  are  not  in 
themselves  conclusive  proof  that  Jonson  was  meant  by  Torqua- 
tus,  but  they  may  fairly  be  said  to  show  (1)  that  these  three 
unusual  words  do  find  a  place  in  Jonson's  vocabulary  ;  (2)  that 
they  are  all  in  early  work  ;  (3)  that  one  word,  real,  is  used  in 
work  probably  earlier  than  Marston's  ridicule  in  1 598  ;  another 


Imprinted  by  me  Wynkyn  de  Worde  y  xvi  day  of  February.  The  y ere  of  our  Lorde 
M VCX XX,  just  printed  by  Mr.  Henry  Huth  in  the  first  series  of  his  most  rare 
Fugitive  Tracts  :  — 

'  The  dolour  intrynsecate  vext  me  ones  or  tvvyse 
So  sore  that  my  vvyttes  were  brought  to  confusyon.'" 

F.  J.  F.  in  Notes  and  Queries,  Series  5,  Vol.  III.  p.  346. 

1  fonsorts  Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  29. 

2  ibid. 

3  In  this  use  of  the  word  Jonson  is  translating  the  classic  n&xcupa.  Ae\<piK^,  and 
there  is,  therefore,  nothing  peculiar  in  his  use  of  the  word  Delphic.  This  was 
suggested  to  me  by  my  colleague  Prof.  W.  A  Lamberton.  See  also  the  note  on 
this  in  fonson's  Timber,  edited  by  Prof.  F.  E.  Schelling,  note,  p.  42,  1.  18. 

\ 


THE    SATIRES    OF    MARSTON.  I  I 

word,  Delphicke,  is  used  in  work  possibly  earlier  than  the 
ridicule. 

These  various  tests  of  the  applicability  of  the  allusion  to 
Torquatus  and  his  "new-minted  epithets"  to  Jonson  are 
cumulative,  and  make  it  all  but  certain  that  he  was  the  man 
intended. 

In  every  attack  made  by  Jonson  upon  Marston  we  find 
Marston's  vocabulary  made  an  object  of  ridicule,  the  most 
direct  and  severe  attack  being  in  Poetaster,  Act  V.  Sc.  i , 
where  Crispinus  is  made  to  disgorge  words  used  by  Marston. 
This  fact  tends  to  establish  yet  more  firmly  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  Jonson  whose  "new-minted  epithets"  are  attacked  in  The 
Scourge  of  Villanie. 

It  remains  to  notice  the  second  allusion  to  Torquatus  in 
Satire  XI.  of  The  Scourge  of  Villanie.     The  lines  are  — 

Come  aloft,  Jack,  room  for  a  vaulting  skip, 
Room  for  Torquatus,  that  ne'er  oped  his  lip 
But  in  prate  of  pommado  reversa, 
Of  the  nimbling,  tumbling  Angelica, 
Now  on  my  soule  his  very  intellect 
Is  nought  but  a  curvetting  sommerset.1 

Dr.  Grosart  is  the  only  editor  that  has  offered  any  sugges- 
tion as  to  the  meaning  of  this  allusion,  his  remark  being, 
"I  cannot  speak  certainly  whether  'Sommerset'  be  meant 
for  a  hidden  stroke  at  'Torquatus,'  i.e.  Jonson's  adulation  of 
'  Somerset.'  "  2 

Mr.  Bullen's  only  comment  on  this  passage  is,  "The  pom- 
mado was  the  vaulting  on  a  horse  (without  touching  the  stir- 
rups) and  the  pommado  reversa  was  the  vaulting  off  again."  :; 
Halliwell  does  not  notice  this  passage  at  all. 


1  The  Scottrge  of  Villanie;  Sat.  XI.  11.  98-103. 

2  Marston's  Poems,  ed.  Grosart,  Introd.,  p.  xlix. 
:i  The  Works  of  Marston,  III.  375. 


THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 


Other  passages  in  Marston's  Satires  have  been  supposed  to 
refer  to  Jonson.  To  these  various  identifications  we  can  reply 
only  that  we  do  not  know  that  they  were  not  meant  for 
Jonson  ;  we  have  no  proof  that  they  were.1 


1  Dr.  Grosart  thinks  that  "  browne  Ruscus "  (Metam orthosis  of  Pigmalion's 
Image  and  Certaine  Satyres,  Sat.  I.  5-10)  was  meant  for  Jonson.  Marston's 
Poems,  Preface,  p.  xlviii.     The  lines  are  — 

Tell  me,  browne  Ruscus,  hast  thou  Gyges  ring, 
That  thou  presum'st  as  if  thou  wert  unseene  ? 
If  not  why  in  thy  wits  halfe  capreall, 
Lett'st  thou  a  superscribed  letter  fall  ? 
And  from  thyselfe  unto  thyselfe  doost  send, 
And  in  the  same,  thyselfe  thyselfe  commend  ? 

In  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  I.  1,  Carlo  suggests  to  Sogliardo  a  device 
with  a  letter  similar  to  the  device  mentioned  above.  Marston's  lines  were  pub- 
lished in  1598,  while  Jonson's  play  was  not  performed  until  1599,  so  that  there 
can  hardly  be  any  allusion  to  it. 

Tubrio,  in  the  same  work  of  Marston's,  Sat.  I.  89-125  and  Sat.  II.  118-119,  nas 
been  by  some  thought  to  be  an  attack  on  Jonson's  licentiousness,  of  which  he  told 
Drummond.     (Conversations,  p.  21.)     The  passage  in  Satire  II.  is  — 

'T  is  loose-legg'd  Lais,  that  same  common  drab 
For  whom  good  Tubrio  took  the  mortal  stab. 

Mr.  Bullen  says  (Works  of  Marston,  III.  273),  "It  has  been  suggested  without 
the  slightest  shadow  of  foundation,  that  the  allusion  is  to  the  death  of  Marlowe." 
Dr.  Nicholson  says  (in  Grosart's  Marston,  p.  xlvi,  quoted  by  Mr.  Bullen),  "  If 
Tubrio  be  Marlowe,  then  the  hitherto  unknown  courtesan  was  the  hermaphroditic 
'  Moll  Cutpurse.'"  Dr.  Grosart  says  (Marston,  p.  xlvii),  "If  Marlowe  be  there 
pointed  at,  what  possible  ground  can  there  be  for  separating  the  earlier  descrip- 
tion (i.e.  Sat.  I.  89-125)  from  the  later?" 


II. 

EVERY    MAX    IN    HIS    HUMOUR. 

The  first  play  to  be  considered  in  our  discussion  of  "The 
War  of  the  Theatres  "  is  Ben  Jonson's  comedy,  livery  Man  in 
his  Humour,  a  play  which,  although  it  contains  no  mention 
of  Marston,  was  yet  closely  connected  with  the  "War,"  on 
account  of  the  violent  attack  on  Daniel  which  it  contains.  The 
play  shows  plainly  the  arrogance  of  Ben  Jonson's  attitude 
toward  his  contemporaries  ;  and  the  satire  of  Daniel,  who  was 
then  popular  and  prominent,  aroused  opposition  against  the 
author  of  the  attack.  Why  Jonson  attacked  Daniel,  whom  so 
many  of  his  other  contemporaries  praised,  we  do  not  know  ;  but 
it  is  altogether  probable  that  Daniel's  close  connection  with  the 
court,  shown  by  the  tradition  that  he  succeeded  to  the  position 
held  by  Spenser,  who  was  virtually  poet  laureate,  made  him  the 
great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  Jonson,  who  was  ambitious  for  court 
preferment.  It  was  after  this  attack  on  Daniel  that  we  find 
Jonson  attacked  by  Marston  in  The  Scourge  of  Villanie,  and 
probably  also  in  Histriomastix. 

Every  Man  in  his  Humour  has  come  down  to  us  in  two  very 
different  forms,  an  earlier,  given  in  the  quarto  1601,  and  a 
later,  given  in  the  folio  16 16.  The  quarto  gives  the  play  as  it 
was  first  performed,  and  is  therefore  the  text  with  which  we 
are  chiefly  concerned  in  the  present  discussion.  The  contro- 
versies concerning  the  date  of  the  first  production  of  the  play 
do  not  especially  concern  us  in  the  present  connection,  and  it 
is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  the  play  hail  certainly  been  per- 


14  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

formed  in  i  598,  a  fact  of  which  Jonson  informs  us  on  the  title- 
page  in  the  folio  of  1616.1 

The  Prologue  to  Every  Man  in  his  Humour  is  clearly  an 
attack  on  methods  employed  by  other  playwrights,  but  all 
attempts  to  show  that  particular  plays  of  Shakespeare,  or  any 
other  dramatist,  were  aimed  at,  lose  their  force  when  we  con- 
sider that  criticisms  on  methods  of  dramatic  construction  were 
very  common  at  the  time.  We  find  criticisms  precisely  similar 
to  those  of  Jonson's  Prologue  in  Whetstone's  Dedication  of 
Promos  and  Cassandra?  printed  in  1578  ;  in  Sidney's  Apologie 
for  Poc trie?  written  probably  as  early  as  1581  ;  also  in  A  Warn- 


1  Henslowe's  Diary  contains  records  of  the  performance  of  a  play  called  The 
Comodey  of  Umers  on  eleven  dates  between  May  11  and  Oct.  1 1,  1 597.  Henslowe's 
Diary,  ed.  J.  P.  Collier,  Shakespeare  Society,  1845,  PP-  87-91  •  Some  have  thought 
that  these  entries  refer  to  Jonson's  Every  Man  in  his  Humour.  Mr.  Fleay  says 
that  The  Comodey  of  Umers  was  "certainly  the  same  play"  as  Chapman's  A 
Humorous  Day's  Mirth.  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  55.  Jonson  was  in 
the  employ  of  Henslowe  in  1597,  as  several  entries  in  the  Diary  show.  See  Hens- 
lowe's Diary,  pp.  255,  256.  For  a  discussion  of  the  date  of  first  production  of 
Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  see  Dr.  Brinsley  Nicholson's  articles  in  The  Anti- 
quary, July,  1882,  pp.  15-19  and  September,  1882,  pp.  106-110;  also  Chronicle  of 
the  English  Drama,  Fleay,  I.  358.  The  quarto  has  the  following  title-page: 
Every  Man  in  his  Humor  \  as  it  hath  been  sundry  times  \  publickly  acted  by  the 
right  j  Honorable  the  Lord  Cham  \  berlaine  his  servants.  \  Written  by  Ben  fohn- 
soit.  Quod  non  dant  proceres,  dabit  Histrio  \  Hand  tarn  en  invidias  vati,  quern  pul- 
pita  pascunt.  [  Imprinted  at  Loudon,  for  Walter  Burre,  and  are  to  \  be  sould  at  his 
slioppe  in  Paulcs  church-yarde  \  iboi. 

The  play  in  this  earlier  form  differs  considerably  from  the  folio  text  of  1616. 
The  characters  in  the  quarto  bear  Italian  names,  of  which  the  list  is  as  follows  (with 
the  names  as  given  by  the  folio,  in  parentheses) :  Lorenzo  Senior  (Knowell),  Thor- 
ello  (Kitely),  Prospero  (Wellbred),  Stephano  (Stephen),  Doctor  Clement  (Justice 
Clement),  Bobadilla  (Bobadil),  Musco  (Brainworm),  Giulliano  (Downright),  Lo- 
renzo Junior  (Edward  Knowell),  Biancha  (Dame  Kitely),  Hesperida  (Bridget),  Peto 
(Formal),  Matheo  (Mathew),  Pizo  (Cash),  Cob  (Cob),  Tib  (Tib). 

The  two  texts  differ  considerably,  one  of  the  chief  instances  being  in  Act  V.,  in 
which  a  long  speech  of  Lorenzo  Junior  in  defence  of  poetry  has  been  omitted  from 
the  lines  of  Edward  Knowell.     Gifford  gives  the  omitted  passage  in  his  note. 

-Shakespeare's  Library,  ed.  Hazlitt,  Pt.  II.  Vol.  II.  p.  204. 

3  Ed.  Arber,  p.  64. 


EVERY    MAN    IN    HIS    HUMOUR.  I  5 

ing  for  Fair  Women,  1599.1  Other  examples  might  be  men- 
tioned. If  we  try  to  explain  Jonson's  criticisms  as  referring  to 
Shakespeare,  or  any  other  dramatist,  we  must  explain  also  the 
allusions  in  all  similar  criticisms.  As  Jonson's  Prologue  was 
printed  for  the  first  time  in  the  folio  in  161 6,  and  as  we  do  not 
know  when  it  was  written,  though  various  guesses  have  been 
made,  there  is  nothing,  so  far  as  chronology  is  concerned,  to 
prevent  our  referring  Jonson's  strictures  to  any  plays  of  Shake- 
speare's to  which  they  may  be  applicable.     The  Prologue  is  — 

Though  need  make  many  poets,  and  some  such 

As  art  and  nature  have  not  bettered  much  ; 

Yet  ours  for  want  hath  not  so  loved  the  stage, 

As  he  dare  serve  the  ill  customs  of  the  age, 

Or  purchase  your  delight  at  such  a  rate, 

As,  for  it,  he  himself  must  justly  hate  : 

To  make  a  child  now  swaddled,  to  proceed 

Man,  and  then  shoot  up,  in  one  beard  and  weed, 

Past  threescore  years  ;  or  with  three  rusty  swords, 

And  help  of  some  few  foot  and  half-foot  words, 

Fight  over  York  and  Lancaster's  long  jars, 

And  in  the  tyring  house  bring  wounds  to  scars. 

He  rather  prays  you  will  be  pleased  to  see 

One  such  today  as  other  plays  should  be  ; 

Where  neither  chorus  wafts  you  o'er  the  seas, 

Nor  creaking  throne  comes  down  the  boys  to  please  : 

Nor  nimble  squib  is  seen  to  make  afeard 

The  gentlewomen  ;  no  rolled  bullet  heard 

To  say,  it  thunders  ;  nor  tempestuous  drum 

Rumbles,  to  tell  you  when  the  storm  doth  come  ; 

But  deeds,  and  language,  such  as  men  do  use, 

And  persons,  such  as  comedy  would  choose, 

When  she  would  shew  an  image  of  the  times, 

And  sport  with  human  follies,  not  with  crimes, 

Except  we  make  them  such,  by  loving  still 

Our  popular  errors,  when  we  know  they  're  ill. 


1  The  School  of  Shakspcrc,  Simpson,  II.  342,  243. 


I 6  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

I  mean  such  errors  as  you  '11  all  confess 
By  laughing  at  them,  they  deserve  no  less  : 
Which,  when  you  heartily  do,  there  's  hope  left  then, 
You,  that  have  so  graced  monsters,  may  like  men. 

That  some  of  these  criticisms  are  applicable  to  plays  of 
Shakespeare  is  evident  ;  that  they  are  applicable  to  the  plays 
of  other  men  is  equally  evident,  but  is  a  fact  ignored  by  those 
who  believe  that  Jonson  and  Shakespeare  quarrelled.  The 
chorus  that  "  wafts  you  o'er  the  seas  "  may  refer  to  Henry  V.  or 
to  Whiter  s  Tale,  but  it  may  also  refer  to  the  chorus  in  TJie 
Life  and  Death  of  Stnkeley,  1600,  which  bids  the  auditors 
"Embarked  and  victualled  think  him  on  the  sea."1  "York 
and  Lancaster's  long  jars  "  may  refer  to  Henry  VI.,  Parts  I.,  II., 
and  III.,  or  to  the  several  old  plays,  upon  which  these  plays  were 
modelled.  "The  creaking  throne"  was  a  common  device  used 
in  many  plays,  as  in  Sir  Clyomon  and  Clamydes,  1  599,  in  which 
Providence  is  "let  clown,"2  or  in  A  Looking  Glass  for  London 
and  England,  1594,  in  which  Oseas  is  let  down  from  the  flies.3 
Violation  of  the  unity  of  time  is  severely  ridiculed  by  Sidney  and 
Whetstone  in  the  passages  already  referred  to,  and  while  it  is 
possible  to  apply  Jonson's  line  about  "a  child  new  swaddled," 
to  Winter's  Tale,  it  is  equally  applicable  to  numerous  other 
plays,  such  as  Patient  Grissil,  by  Dekker.  "The  rolled  bullet 
.  .  .  to  say  it  thunders"  and  "the  tempestuous  drum"  may 
refer  to  the  opening  scenes  of  Macbeth  and  The  Tempest,  or  to 
King  Lear,  or  to  many  other  plays  by  other  dramatists,  in  which 
storms  are  represented,  as,  for  example,  Faustus,  Locrinc  or 
Mucedorus.  One  of  the  most  absurd  attempts  to  prove  that 
Shakespeare  was  attacked  in  this  Prologue  is  based  on  the  fact 
that  it  was  published  in  the  year  of  Shakespeare's  death.4 


1  The  School  of  Shakspere,  Simpson,  I.  248. 

2  Peek,  ed.  Dyce,  p.  520.  3  Greene,  ed.  Grosart,  XIV.  14. 

4  Ben  Jonson  und  seine  Schule.  Wolf  Graf  von  Baudissin,  I.  ix.    See  also  Essay  on 
the  Life  and  Dramatic  Writings  of  Ben  Jonson,  by  Alexander  Schmidt,  Dantzig,  1847. 


EVERY    MAN     IN    HIS    HUMOUR.  1 7 

Whatever  may  be  the  allusions  to  particular  plays  there  is  no 
doubt  as  to  Jonson*s  views  ot  the  function  of  dramatic  repre- 
sentation as  expressed  in  this  Prologue.     His  play  observes  the 

unities,  and  holds  up  to  view  "popular  errors."  The  charac- 
ters are  not  merely  types  of  classes,  but  in  many  instances 
undoubtedly  represent  individuals  who  were  at  the  time  living 
in  London.  Various  guesses  have  been  made  as  to  the  identity 
of  the  persons  thus  represented,  and  in  many  instances  these 
guesses  have  been  almost  wholly  unsupported  by  evidence. 

It  is  apart  from  the  purpose  of  the  present  discussion  to 
mention  all  of  the  supposed  identifications  that  have  been  made 
of  the  characters  in  the  plays  of  which  it  treats.  One  or  two 
guesses  may  be  mentioned  here,  however,  as  showing  the  eager- 
ness of  some  critics  to  involve  Shakespeare  in  "The  War  of 
the  Theatres." 

Dr.  Robert  Cartwright  stated  in  his  monograph  that  in  Every 
Man  in  his  Humour  Shakespeare  was  meant  by  Master  Stephen, 
the  country  gull,  and  also  by  Wellbred.1  The  only  reason  given 
for  the  first  identification  is  that  Shakespeare  spent  his  boy- 
hood in  the  country,  while  the  second  is  supposed  to  be  proved 
by  the  fact  that  Edward  Knowell,  assumed  by  Dr.  Cartwright 
to  be  Jonson,  is  "almost  grown  to  be  the  idolater  of  this  young 
Wellbred."2  If  either  of  these  identifications  could  be  proved, 
we  should  have  an  interesting  situation,  a  man  acting  in  a  play 
in  which  one  of  the  other  characters  represented  himself,  for, 
as  we  know  from  the  list  of  actors  published  in  the  folio,  Shake- 
speare was  one  of  the  Chamberlain's  men,  who  produced  this 
play.  We  learn  from  the  play  a  number  of  facts  concern- 
ing Master  Stephen,  and  it  needs  no  argument  to  show  that, 
whoever  else  Stephen  may  be,  he  is  certainly  not  Shakespeare. 

1  Shakespeare  and Jonson,  Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats,  Auxiliary  forces,  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher,  Marston,  Dekker,  Chapman  ami  Webster,  London,  1864,  pp. 
22,  etc. 

2 Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  I.  1. 


15  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

In  I.  I,  we  are  told  that  Master  Stephen  is  "a  country  gull," 
nephew  of  Knowell  ;  is  interested  in  hawking  and  hunting  ; 
wants  to  imitate  courtiers  ;  dwells  at  Hogsden.  He  is  called 
by  his  uncle  "a  prodigal  absurd  coxcomb."  He  wastes  that 
which  his  friends  have  left  him,  and  affects  to  make  a  blaze  of 
gentry  to  the  world.  He  is  next  heir  to  Knowell,  if  Edward 
Knowell  die.  He  has  a  living  of  his  own  hard  by.  He  swears 
all  kinds  of  strange  oaths.  He  is  vain  of  his  legs  in  silk  hose 
(I.  2)  ;  is  a  coward  and  "protests."  In  II.  2,  Master  Stephen 
has  a  jet  ring  sent  him  by  "  Mistress  Mary  "  with  the  "  poesie  "  : 

Though  fancy  sleep 
My  love  is  deep. 

to  which  he  replies  :  — 

The  deeper  the  sweeter 

I  '11  be  judged  by  Saint  Peter. 

In  the  same  scene  Master  Stephen  buys  Brainworm's  rapier. 
In  III.  2,  Wellbred  calls  Master  Stephen  "a  fool  ...  it  needs 
no  affidavit  to  prove  it." 

Master  Stephen's  name  is  entered  in  the  "  Artillery  Garden." 
In  IV.  9,  he  wears  Downright's  coat  and  is  arrested  by  Brain- 
worm.  Downright  calls  Master  Stephen  "  Signior  gull  .  .  . 
turned  filcher  of  late."  Such  are  the  facts  stated  concerning 
Master  Stephen.  When  Master  Mathew  speaks  of  overflowing 
"half  a  score,  or  a  dozen  sonnets,"1  Master  Stephen  replies 
"  I  love  such  things  out  of  measure"  ;  this,  taken  with  the  fact 
that  he  is  friendly  to  Master  Mathew,  and  praises  the  latter's 
poems,  suggests  the  possibility  that  Master  Stephen  and  Mas- 
ter Mathew  in  this  play  may  be  the  same  persons  as  Fungoso 
and  Fastidious  Brisk  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  and 
Asotus  and  Hedon  in  Cynthia' s  Revels.  It  will  be  shown  that 
Master  Mathew,  Fastidious  Brisk,  and  Hedon  are  all  represen- 


EVERY    MAN    IN    Ills    HUMOUR.  19 

tations  of  Samuel  Daniel,  and  that  Asotus  and  Fungoso  were 
meant  for  Thomas  Lodge.  In  his  desire  to  make  a  blaze  of 
gentry,  as  well  as  in  some  other  particulars,  Master  Stephen 
suggests  Sogliardo  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour. 

Another  supposed  identification,  which  has  more  apparent 
probability  than  the  identification  of  Master  Stephen  with 
Shakespeare,  is  that  of  George  Downright  with  Jonson.  It  is 
a  well-known  fact  that  Jonson  does  appear  in  each  of  his  next 
three  plays  :  as  Asper  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  I  honour,  as 
Crites  in  Cynthia  s  Revels,  and  as  Horace  in  Poetaster. 

Downright  is  "a  plain  squire,"  "half-brother  of  Wellbred." 
He  brags  that  he  will  give  Master  Mathew  the  bastinado  (I.  4). 
Hobadil  threatens  to  beat  Downright  if  he  chance  to  meet  him 
(I.  4),  but  is  a  coward  when  he  does  (IV.  5).  Downright  is 
"  a  tall,  big  man  ...  he  goes  in  a  cloak  most  commonly  of 
silk  russet  laid  about  with  russet  lace  "  (IV.  7).  The  general 
hostility  of  Downright  to  Master  Mathew  strongly  suggests 
Jonson's  hostility  to  Daniel,  of  which  further  mention  will  be 
made.  Against  any  identification  of  Jonson  in  this  play  must 
be  taken  Dekker's  statement  made  in  his  dedication  of  Satiro- 
mastix  "  To  the  world  "  :  — 

I  meete  one,  and  he  runnes  full  Butt  at  me  with  his  Satires  homes,  for 
that  in  untrussing  Horace  I  did  onely  whip  his  fortunes,  and  condition  of 
life,  where  the  more  noble  Reprehension  had  bin  of  his  mindes  Deformitie, 
whose  greatnes  if  his  Criticall  Lynx  had  with  as  narrow  eyes,  observ'd  in 
himselfe,  as  it  did  little  spots  upon  others,  without  all  disputation,  Horace 
would  not  have  left  Horace  out  of  Every  Man  in's  Humour.1 

If  any  character  in  Every  Man  in  his  Humour  had  been 
a  representation  of  Jonson  himself,  Dekker  would  not  have 
omitted  to  mention  the  fact  and  the  name  of  the  character 
when  he  wrote  in  Satiromastix :  — 


Satiromastix,  Quarto,  1602,  p.  3. 


20  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

You  must  be  call'd  Asper  and  Criticus  and  Horace  ;  thy  tytle  's  longer 
areading  than  the  stile  a  the  big  Turkes  :  Asper,  Criticus,1  Quintus  Hora- 
tius  Flaccus.2 

Justice  Clement  is  a  clearly  defined  character.  He  lived  on 
Coleman  Street  (III.  2)  ;  "he  is  a  city  magistrate,  a  justice 
here,  an  excellent  good  lawyer,  and  a  great  scholar,  but  the 
only  mad  merry  old  fellow  in  Europe.  .  .  .  He  is  a  very 
strange  presence,  methinks  ;  it  shews  as  if  he  stood  out  of  the 
rank  from  other  men.  I  [Edward  Knowell]  have  heard  many 
of  his  jests  in  the  University.  They  say  he  will  commit  a  man 
for  taking  the  wall  of  his  horse  ...  or  wearing  his  cloak  on 
one  shoulder,  or  serving  God,  any  thing  indeed,  if  it  come  in 
the  way  of  his  humour"  (III.  2)  ;  he  will  permit  no  one  to 
speak  against  tobacco  (III.  3)  ;  Clement  always  pardons  cul- 
prits ;  will  challenge  the  poet,  Master  Mathew,  at  ex  tempore ; 
he  burns  Mathew' s  poems  (V.  1).  It  would  seem  that  from 
these  particulars  it  might  be  possible  to  identify  the  original  of 
this  character. 

It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  Clement  may  be  Lyly.3 
Cob  speaks  of  having  been  his  neighbor  eighteen  years,  which 
may  possibly  have  reference  to  the  date  of  publication  of 
Euphues  and  his  England,  1580.  There  are  several  points  in 
which  the  facts  concerning  Lyly  agree  with  what  we  are  told 
of  Justice  Clement.  Lyly  graduated  B.A.  Oxford,  1573,  and 
was  granted  the  degree  M.A.  by  Cambridge  in  1579.  He 
gained  at  Oxford  the  reputation  of  being  "a  noted  wit." 
Nashe  says  that  Lyly  was  an  immoderate  tobacco-smoker.4 
Joseph  Hall,  the  satirist,  when  in  charge  of  a  parish  at  Hal- 
sted,  in  Suffolk,  was  opposed  by  a   "Mr.   Lilly,''  who  has  been 


1  Crites  was  called  Criticus  in  the  quarto  of  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour. 
2 Satiromastix,  Works  of  Thomas  Dekker,  published  by  John  Pearson,  1873,  I. 

3. 

3  Shakespeare  and Jonson,  Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats,  p.  19. 

4  Have  with  you  to  Saffron  Walden.      Works  of  Nashe,  ed.  Grosart,  III.  204. 


EVERY    MAN    IX    HIS    HUMOUR.  2  1 

thought  to  have  been  the  author  of  Euphues,  and  who  is 
described  as  "a  witty  and  bold  atheist."  This  was  in  1601.1 
It  is  barely  possible  that  Justice  Clement's  love  of  tobacco  and 
committing  a  man  for  "serving  God  "  may  be  allusions  to  the 
facts  in  Lyly's  case.  During  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  and  up 
to  his  death  in  1606,  Lyly  lived  in  the  parish  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew the  Less  in  the  ward  of  Farringdon  without,  and  is 
buried  in  that  church.2  Justice  Clement  lived  on  Coleman 
Street,  which  was  within  "  the  city." 

Kitely  has  been  thought,  absurdly,  to  be  Ford,  the  dramatist,'5 
but  as  Ford  was  not  baptized  until  I586,4it  is  impossible  that 
he  could  have  been  represented  by  Jonson  in  1598.  Kitely  is 
a  merchant  who  took  Thomas  Cash  "  as  a  child  "  and  christened 
him  .  .  .  and  bred  him  at  the  Hospital"  (II.  1).  In  V.  1, 
Kitely  quotes  a  passage  "  out  of  a  jealous  man's  part  in  a  play." 

See  what  a  drove  of  horns  fly  in  the  air, 

Winged  with  my  cleansed  and  my  credulous  breath  ! 

Watch  'cm  suspicious  eyes,  watch  where  they  fall. 

See,  see  !  on  heads,  that  think  they  have  none  at  all  ! 

O  what  a  plenteous  world  of  this  will  come  ! 

When  air  rains  horns  all  may  be  sure  of  some. 

No  editor  of  Jonson  has  discovered  from  what  play  these  lines 
are  taken.      Kitely  has  not  been  identified. 

Thomas  Cash,  whose  name  suggests  Thomas  Nashe,  was  servant 
to  Kitely  ;  bred  at  the  Hospital  (II.  1)  ;  "is  no  precisian  nor 
rigid  Roman  Catholic";  "he'll  play  at  fayles  and  tick-tack" 
(III.  2).  The  use  of  the  exclamation  "  Martin  !"  (III.  2)  suggests 
the  Martin  Marprelate  controversy.    Cash  remains  unidentified. 


1  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  XXIV.  76,  s.  v.  Joseph  Hall.  The  Rev. 
Canon  Perry,  the  author  of  the  article,  says  of  this  ".Mr.  Lilly,"  "probably 
John   Lilly  or  Lyly,  author  of  Euphues"     It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  he  was. 

2  London  Past  and  Present,  Wheatley  and  Cunningham,  1.  117. 
8  Shakespeare  and  Jonson,  Dramatic  versus  Hit  Combats,  p.  23. 
4  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  1.  230. 


22  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Brainworm  claims  that  he  has  been  in  all  the  late  wars,  Bo- 
hemia, Hungary,  Dalmatia,  Poland  ;  fourteen  years  a  soldier 
by  sea  and  land,  shot  twice  at  Aleppo,  once  at  Vienna  ;  has 
been  at  Marseilles,  Naples,  and  Adriatic  gulf  ; 1  slave  in  galleys 
thrice,  shot  in  head  and  thighs  (II.  2).  In  the  same  scene,  in 
disguise,  he  sells  his  rapier.  Some  have  thought 2  that  the 
various  battles  and  campaigns  referred  to  are  allusions  to 
Jonson's  own  career.  This  can  hardly  be  the  case.  Cob  is 
descended  from  a  herring  (cob)  ;  is  a  water  carrier  (I.  3)  ;  is 
a  cuckold  (III.  2)  ;  is  threatened  with  jail  for  speaking  against 
Bobadil's  tobacco  (III.  3). 

Bobadil  is  the  braggart  soldier  who  evidently  appears  a 
second  time  as  Shift  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  and 
a  third  time  as  Tucca  in  Poetaster.  In  his  dedication  "  To 
the  World,"  prefixed  to  Satiromastix,  Dekker  wonders  "what 
language  Tucca  [and  therefore  probably  Bobadil]  would  have 
spoke,  if  honest  Capten  Hannam  had  bin  borne  without  a 
tongue.  1st  not  as  lawfull  then  for  mee  to  imitate  Horace  as 
Horace  Hannam  ?  "3  Bobadil  swears  strange  oaths  ;  he  was  in 
the  fight  at  Strigonium  (III.  1)  ;  he  has  been  to  the  Indies, 
where  tobacco  grows,  and  calls  tobacco  "divine  tobacco  "  (quot- 
ing Spenser,  Faery  Queen,  III.  v,  32).  He  brags  of  having 
defeated  several  men  at  once,  and  proposes  a  plan  by  which 
twenty  skillful  swordsmen  could  kill  forty  thousand  men  (IV.  5). 

Knowell  "  is  a  man  of  a  thousand  a  year  Middlesex  land  " 
(I.  1)  ;  says  of  himself,  quoting  in  substance  words  of  old 
Jeronimo  in  The  Spanish  Tragedy,  — 


1  The  quarto  reads  "  America  "  for  "  Adriatic  gulf." 

2  Gifford  states  in  a  note  that  "in  the  French  version  of  this  play  we  are  told 
that  this  and  what  follows  is  an  account  of  the  campaigns  really  made  by  Jonson  ! 
It  is  a  pity  that  the  editors  stopped  here  ;  a  life  of  Jonson  on  the  authority  of 
quartermaster  Brainworm  would  have  been  a  great  curiosity."  Works  of  Jonsont 
ed.  Gifford,  I.  54. 

3  Works  oj Dekker,  Pearson,  I.  182. 


EVERY    MAN    IN    HIS    HUMOUR.  23 

Myself  was  once  a  student,  and  indeed, 

Fed  with  the  selfsame  humour  he  is  now, 

Dreaming  on  nought  but  idle  poetry, 

That  fruitless  and  unprofitable  art. 

Good  unto  none,  but  least  to  the  professors  ; 

Which  then,  1  thought  the  mistress  of  all  knowledge  ; 

But  since,  time  and  the  truth  have  waked  my  judgment, 

And  reason  taught  me  better  to  distinguish 

The  vain  from  the  useful  learnings.1 

Knowell  has  been  absurdly  identified  with  Chapman,  who 
could  not  well  be  represented  as  speaking  the  lines  just  quoted. 
Edward  Knowell,  who  wished  to  be  a  poet  against  his  father's 
wishes,  is  similar  to  Ovid  Junior,  in  Poetaster,  who  wished  to 
be  a  poet,  instead  of  a  lawyer,  against  the  wishes  of  his  father, 
Ovid  Senior.  Mr.  C.  H.  Herford  suggests2  that  the  relations 
between  Jonson  and  his  step-father  may  have  been  shadowed 
in  the  pictures  of  the  Knowells  and  the  Ovids. 

Edward  Knowell  is  a  scholar  "  of  good  account  in  both  our 
Universities,  either  of  which  hath  favored  him  with  graces."  He 
is  almost  "the  idolater  of  this  young  Wellbred  "  (I.  1).  He 
is  of  "fair  disposition,  excellent  good  parts,"  "a  handsome 
young  gentleman"  (IV.  1).  Knowell  tells  Edward  Knowell 
not  to  write  poetry,  lest  it  be  burned,  as  Mathew's  was  (V.  1). 
Neither  Edward  Knowell  nor  Ovid  Junior,  whom  he  so  strongly 
resembles,  has  been  identified.  Lyly  was  favored  with  de- 
grees by  both  Universities,  but  in  no  other  respect  does  he 
resemble  Edward  Knowell. 

Of  Master  Wellbred  we  know  very  little  beyond  the  fact 
that  his  sister  married  Kitely,  and  that  Downright  accuses  him 
of  having  "your  poets  and  potlings,  your  soldados  and  foolados 
to    follow  you    up    and  down  the    city."       Wellbred    answers 


1  The  Spanish   Tragedy  V.,  Dodsley,  V.  147. 

2  Ben  Jonson,    Mermaid  edition,  edited  by   Dr.   Brinsley  Nicholson,  Introduc- 
tory essay  by  C.  II.  Herford,  p.  x. 


24  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Downright's  abuse  by  threatening  to  cut  off  his  ears  (IV.  i). 
Wellbred  quotes  Latin,  "  Quos  aequus  amavit  Jupiter"  (III.  i.), 
and  is  the  intimate  friend  of  Edward  Knowell,  to  whom  he 
sends  the  letter  (I.  i). 

The  only  character  that  has  been  positively  identified  is 
Master  Mathew,  who  is  a  representation  of  Samuel  Daniel. 
Jonson  did  not  look  with  approval  on  Daniel's  poetry,  although 
Daniel  was  very  popular  with  the  public,  and  with  such  critics 
as  Nashe,  Spenser,  and  Lodge,  all  of  whom,  as  well  as  Meres, 
had  praised  his  poems.1 

In  his  Conversations  with  Drummond,  1619,  Jonson  said 
several  things  about  Daniel  which  show  that  the  two  men  did 
not  agree  in  their  ideas  of  poetry.  The  following  are  the  notes 
made  by  Drummond  :  — 

Said  he  had  written  a  Discourse  of  Poesie  both  against  Campion  and 
Daniel,  especially  this  last.2  .  .  . 

Samuel  Daniel  was  a  good  honest  man,  had  no  children  ;  but  no 
poet.3 

Daniel  was  at  jealousies  with  him.4 

Daniel  wrott  Civill  Warres,  and  yett  hath  not  one  batle  in  all  his  book.5 

While  these  statements  were  made  in  1619  and  give  Jonson's 
opinion  of  Daniel  at  that  time,  yet  they  agree  with  the  repre- 
sentations of  Daniel  in  Jonson's  early  comedies. 


1  Nashe,  in  Piers  Pennilesse,  praised  Rosamond ;  Nashe,  ed.  Grosart,  II.  60. 
Spenser,  in  Colin  Clout,  praised  Delia :  Spenser,  ed.  Grosart,  IV.  50.  In  the 
Induction  to  Phillis,  Lodge  praised  Delia  ;  Phillis,  p.  6.  Hunterian  Club  reprint. 
Meres  praised  Delia  in  Palladis  Tamia  ;  English  Poets  and  Poesy,  Haslewood,  II. 
1 50.  There  are  many  other  passages  in  which  Daniel  was  praised  by  his  contem- 
poraries. 

2  Jonson 's  Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  1. 

3  ibid.,  p.  2. 

4  ibid.,  p.  10.  On  this  statement  Laing  has  this  note  :  "  Jonson  says  (in  a  letter 
to  the  Countess  of  Rutland)  that  Daniel  '  envied  him  though  he  bore  no  ill  will  on 
his  part.' " 

5  ibid.,  p.  16. 


EVERY    MAN    IN    HIS    HUM01   R.  J  5 

Master    Mathew,  the  "  town  gull,"   is  the  person  attacked 
most  vigorously  in  the  play.1 
Cob  says  :  — 

You  should  have  some  now  would  take  this  Master  Mathew  to  be  a 
gentleman,  at  the  least.  His  father's  an  honest  man.  a  worshipful  fish- 
monger, and  so  forth  ;  and  now  does  he  creep,  and  wriggle  into  acquaintance" 
with  all  the  brave  gallants  about  the  town,  such  as  my  guest  is  (O  my  guest 
is  a  fine  man  !)  and  they  flout  him  invincibly.  He  useth  every  day  to  a 
merchant's  house,  where  I  serve  water,  one  master  Kitely's,  in  the  old 
Jewry  ;  and  here  "s  the  jest,  he  is  in  love  with  my  master's  sister,  Mrs. 
Bridget,  and  calls  her  Mistress  ;  and  there  he  will  sit  you  a  whole  afternoon 
sometimes  reading  of  these  same  abominable,  vile  (a  pox  on  'em  !  I  cannot 
abide  them),  rascally  verses,  poetrie,  poetrie,  and  speaking  of  interludes  ; 
't  will  make  a  man  burst  to  hear  him,  and  the  wenches,  they  do  so  jeer  and 
ti-he  at  him.'2 

Master  Mathew  meets  Bobadil  I,  4.  and  quotes  from  The 
Spanish  Tragedy  (III)  some  lines  which  he  praises.     The  lines 

are  — 

O  eyes,  no  eyes,  but  fountains  fraught  witli  tears  ! 
O  life,  no  life,  but  lively  form  of  death  ! 
O  world,  no  world,  but  mass  of  public  wrongs  ! 
Confused  and  filled  with  murder  and  misdeeds  !8 

Bobadil  also  praises  the  lines  and  Mathew  then  recites  lines 
which  he  says  are  "a  toy  of  mine  own  in  my  nonage  ;  the 
infancy  of  my  muses."     The  lines  are  as  follows  in  the  quarto  : 


1  Master  Mathew  appears  in  ten  of  the  twenty  scenes  i"to  which  the  play  is 
divided,  as  does  also  Master  Stephen.  Brainworm  appears  in  eleven  scenes,  Bo- 
badil in  nine,  Edward  Knowell  in  eight.  Kitely  and  Cob  in  seven  each,  Wellbred, 
Cash,  and  Knowell  in  six  each,  and  the  other  characters  in  from  two  to  five  scenes 
each,  Clement  appearing  in  only  two.  In  almost  every  scene  in  which  Master 
Mathew  appears  he  is  held  up  to  ridicule. 

2  I.  3.   Folio  text. 

8 1. 4.  See  Every  Man  out of  his  Humour,  V.  r,  where  Macilente  ridicules  Sidney's 
sonnet,  Astrophel  and  Stella,  C,  beginning  "  O  tears,  no  tears,  but  raine  from 
beautie's  skies."  Macilente  quotes  the  expression  ••more  than  most  fair"  used  in 
this  sonnet. 


26  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

To  thee,  the  purest  object  to  my  sense, 

The  most  refined  essence  Heaven  covers, 

Send  I  these  lines  wherein  I  do  commence 

The  happy  state  of  true  deserving  lovers.1 

If  they  prove  rough,  unpolished,  harsh  and  rude, 

Haste  made  the  waste  ;  thus  mildly  I  conclude. 

Jonson  here  ridicules  Daniel's  love-poetry,  for  it  will  be 
shown  that  Master  Mathew  was  meant  for  Daniel.  Mathew 
and  Downright  could  not  agree,  and  the  "  hanger  "  that  Mathew 
thought  "most  peremptory  beautiful,  and  gentlemanlike"  was 
pronounced  by  Downright  "the  most  pied  and  ridiculous  that 
ever  he  saw,"2  a  statement  in  which  we  have  a  criticism  of 
Daniel's  taste. 

Daniel's  language  is  evidently  ridiculed  by  Mathew's  expres- 
sion, "  un-in-one-breath-utterable  skill."3  One  of  the  first 
direct  attacks  on  Daniel  is  contained  in  the  following  passage  : 

Mat.  Oh,  its  your  only  fine  humour,  sir  ;  your  true  melancholy  breeds  your 
perfect  fine  wit,  sir.  I  am  melancholy  myself,  divers  times,  sir,  and  then  do 
I  no  more  but  take  pen  and  paper,  presently,  and  overflow  you  half  a  score, 
or  a  dozen  of  sonnets  at  a  sitting. 

E.  Know.    Sure  he  utters  them  then  by  the  gross.     [Aside. 

Step.    Truly,  sir,  and  I  love  such  things  out  of  measure. 

E.  Know.    I' faith  better  than  in  measure,  I  '11  undertake. 

Mat.    Why,"  I  pray  you,  sir,  make  use  of  my  study,  it 's  at  your  service. 

Step.  I  thank  you,  sir.  I  shall  be  bold,  I  warrant  you  ;  have  you  a  stool 
there,  to  be  melancholy  upon? 

Mat.  That  I  have,  sir,  and  some  papers  there  of  mine  own  doing,  at  idle 
hours,  that  you'll  say  there  's  some  sparks  of  wit  in  'em,  when  you  see  them. 

Well.  Would  the  sparks  would  kindle  once,  and  become  a  fire  amongst 
them  !     I  might  see  self-love  burnt  for  her  heresy.     [Aside.4 

Mathew's  poems  are  again  ridiculed  (IV.  i)  in  a  passage  in 
which  he  is  charged  with  plagiarism:  — 


1  The  folio  altered  this  to  "  turtle-billing  lovers." 
21.4.  »I.  4.  MIL  1. 


EVERY    MAN    IX    HIS    HUMOUR.  2J 

Brid.    Servant,  in  troth,  you  are  too  prodigal 

Of  your  wit's  treasure,  thus  to  pour  it  forth 
Upon  so  mean  a  subject  as  my  worth. 

Mat.    You  say  well,  mistress,  and  1  mean  as  well. 

Down.    Hoy-clay,  here  is  stuff  ! 

Well.    0,  now  stand  close  :  pray  heaven,  she  can  get  him  to  read  !  he 
should  do  it  of  his  own  natural  impudency. 

Brid.    Servant,  what  is  this  same,  I  pray  you  ! 

Mat.    Marry,  an  elegy,  an  elegy,  an  odd  toy  — 

Down.    To  mock  an  ape  withal  !     O,  I  could  sew  up  his  mouth  now. 

Dame  K.    Sister,  I  pray  you,  let's  hear  it. 

Down.    Are  you  rhime-given  too? 

Mat.    Mistress,  I  '11  read  it,  if  you  please. 

Brid.    Pray  you  do,  servant. 

Down.    O,  here  's  no  foppery  !     Death  !     I  can  endure  the  stocks  better. 
[Exit. 

E.  Know.    What  ails  my  brother?     Can  he  not  hold  his  water  at  read 
ing  of  a  ballad  ? 

Well.    O,  no  ;  a  rhime  to  him  is  worse  than  cheese,  or  a  bagpipe  ;  but 
mark  ;   you  lose  the  protestation. 

Mat.  "  Rare  creature,  let  me  speak  without  offence, 

Would  God  my  rude  words  had  the  influence 
To  rule  thy  thoughts,  as  thy  fair  looks  do  mine, 
Then  shouldst  thou  be  his  prisoner,  who  is  thine." 
E.  Know.    This  is  in  Hero  and  Leandcr. 
Well.    O,  ay  ;  peace  !  we  shall  have  more  of  this. 
Mat.  "  Be  not  unkind  and  fair  :  misshapen  stuff 

Is  of  behaviour  boisterous  and  rough." 
Well.    How  like  you  that  sir  ?     [Master  Stephen  shakes  his  head. 
E.  Know.    'Slight,  he  shakes  his  head  like  a  bottle,  to  feel  an  there  be 
any  brain  in  it. 

Mat.    But  observe  the  catastrophe,  now  : 

"  And  I  in  duty  will  exceed  all  other, 
As  you  in  beauty  do  excel  Love's  mother." 
E.  Know.    Well,  I  '11  have  him  free  of  the  wit-brokers,  for  he  utters  noth- 
ing but  stolen  remnants. 
Well.    O,  forgive  it  him. 

E.  Know.    A  filching  rogue,  hang  him  !    and   from  the  dead  !    its  worse 
than  sacrilege. 


28  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

This  is  a  severe  criticism  of  Mathew's  methods  of  writing 
poetry,  especially  as  he  is  made  to  claim  that  he  wrote  the 
verses  "ex  tempore"  that  morning. 

Hero  and  Lcander,  completed  by  Chapman,  was  first  pub- 
lished in  1598,  the  year  in  which  Every  Man  in  his  Humour 
was  produced.  Sestiads  I.  and  II.,  the  portion  written  by  Mar- 
lowe, had  been  printed  in  1593.  Mathew  has  not  quoted  the 
lines  correctly,  but  by  this  Jonson  probably  meant  to  indicate 
that  Daniel,  in  making  use  of  another  man's  work,  did  change 
it  somewhat.      Marlowe  wrote  :  — 

Fair  creature,  let  me  speak  without  offence  : 

I  would  my  rude  words  had  the  influence 

To  lead  thy  thoughts,  as  thy  fair  looks  do  mine  ! 

Then  shouldst  thou  be  his  prisoner,  who  is  thine. 

Be  not  unkind  and  fair  :  misshapen  stuff 

Are  of  behaviour  boisterous  and  rough. 


And  I  in  duty  will  excel  all  other 

As  thou  in  beauty  dost  exceed  Love's  mother.1 

The  chief  attack  on  Daniel  in  this  play  remains  to  be 
noticed.  It  is  in  the  last  act,  beginning  in  the  folio  with 
Clement's  words  :  — 

A  poet  !     I  will  challenge  him  myself  presently  at  ex  tempore. 

The  quarto  text  differs  greatly  from  the  folio  in  this  act. 
The  scene  in  the  quarto  is  as  follows  :  — 

Musca.  Marry,  search  his  pocket  sir,  and  thele  shew  you  he  is  an  author 
sir. 

Clement.  Die  mihi  musa  virum.  Are  you,  are  you  an  author  sir,  give 
me  leave  a  little,  come  on  sir,  I  '11  make  verses  with  you  now  in  honor  of 
the  gods,  and  the  goddesses  for  what  you  dare  call  ex  tempore ;  and  now  I 
beginne  — 

"Mount  the  my  Phlegon  muse,  and  testifie, 
How  Saturne  sitting  in  an  ebon  cloud 


Hero  and  Leander,  Sestiad  I. 


EVERY    MAN    IX    HIS    HUMOUR.  2Q 

Disrobed  his  podex  white  as  ivorie, 

And  through  the  welkin  thundered  all  aloud." 
There  's  for  you  sir. 

Prospero.    Oh,  he  writes  not  in  that  height  of  stile. 
Clement.    No  ;  weele  come  a  steppe  or  two  lower  then  — 
"  From  Catadupa  and  the  bankes  of  Nile 
Where  onely  breedes  your  monstrous  crocodile, 
Now  are  we  purpos'd  for  to  fetch  our  stile." 
Prospero.    Oh  too  farre  fetcht  for  him  still  Maister  Doctor. 
Clement.      I,  say  you  so,  lets  entreat  a  sight  of  his  vaine  then. 
Prospero.     Signior,  Maister  Doctor  desires  to  see  a  sight  of  your  vaine. 
nay  you  must  not  denie  him. 

Clement.    What  !  al  this  verse,  body  of  me  he  carries  a  whole  realme,  a 
commonwealth  of  paper  in  his  hose,  lets  see  some  of  his  subjects. 
"Unto  the  boundlesse  ocean  of  thy  bewtie, 
Runnes  this  poore  river,  charg'd  with  streames  of  zeale, 
Returning  thee  the  tribute  of  my  dutie  ; 
Which  here  my  love,  my  youth,  my  plaints  reveale." 
Good  !   is  this  your  own  invention  ? 

Matheo.    No  sir,  I  translated  that  out  of  a  booke  called  Delia. 
Clement.    Oh,  but  1  wolde  see  some  of  your  owne,  some  of  your  owne. 
Afat/ieo.    Sir,  heres  the  beginning  of  a  sonnet  I  made  to  my  mistresse. 
Clement.   That,  that !  who?  to  Madonna  Hespcrida,  is  she  your  mistresse? 
Prospero.    It  pleaseth  him  to  call  her  so,  sir. 

Clement.  "  In  Sommer  time  when  Phoebus  golden  raves."  You  trans- 
lated this  too?  did  you  not? 

Prospero.    No,  this  is  invention,  he  found  it  in  a  ballad.1 
Matheo.    Fayth  sir,  I  had  most  of  the  conceite  of  it  out  of  a  ballad  indeede. 
Clement.    Conceite,  fetch  me  a  couple  of  torches,  sirrha.      I  may  see  the 
conceite,  quicklv  :  its  very  darke  ! 

The  ridicule  of  Matheo  consists  chiefly  in  calling  him  a  plagia- 
rist. Daniel's  Sonnet  I.  to  Delia  is  in  the  quarto  quoted  cor- 
rectly, and  it  is  said  to  have  been  "  translated  .  .  .  out  of  a 
booke  called  Delia."  In  the  folio  text  Jonson  does  not  mention 
the  "booke  called  Delia"  and  has  altered  the  lines  to  read 
thus : — 


Note  the  play  on  the  meaning  of  the  Latin  invenire,  to  find. 


30  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Unto  the  boundless  ocean  of  thy  face 

Runs  this  poor  river,  charged  with  streams  of  eyes. 

At  which  Edward  Knowell  exclaims  :  — 

A  parody  !  a  parody  !  with  a  kind  of  miraculous  gift  to  make  it  absurder 
than  it  was. 

Clement  then  burns  the  whole  batch  of  Mathew's  poems,  and 
Knowell  calls  his  son's  attention  to  the  fate  of  poets,  where- 
upon Lorenzo  Junior,  in  the  quarto,  utters  his  defence  of  poetry, 
from  which  Edward  Knowell,  in  the  folio,  says  that  he  has  been 
"saved."  The  burning  of  Mathew's  poems  is  the  most  impor- 
tant incident  in  the  closing  scene  of  the  play,  a  fact  which 
impresses  the  reader  strongly  with  the  idea  that  the  play  was 
especially  aimed  at  the  man  who  was  represented  in  the 
character  of  Master  Mathew.  That  Samuel  Daniel  was  the 
man  held  up  to  ridicule  there  can  be  no  doubt  when  we  find 
his  Sonnet  I.  to  Delia  quoted  as  being  absurd.  The  fact  that 
Mathew  utters  lines  from  other  poets  also  affects  in  no  way  the 
certainty  of  the  conclusion  that  he  represented  Daniel,  for  we 
are  told  several  times  that  he  was  a  plagiarist,  and  the  author 
of  The  Return  from  Parnassus,  1 60 1-2,  while  praising  Daniel, 
joins  to  his  praise  a  substantial  repetition  of  Jonson's  charge  : 

Sweete  hony  dropping  D  : :  doth  wage 
Warre  with  the  proudest  big  Italian, 
That  melts  his  heart  in  sugred  Sonnetting. 
Onely  let  him  more  sparingly  make  use, 
Of  others  wit,  and  use  his  owne  the  more  : 
That  well  may  scorne  base  imitation.2 


1  In  the  quarto,  Daniel  is  spoken  of  by  his  initials  only,  in  the  passage  in  which 
the  poets  are  "censured."  The  others,  Constable  Lodge  and  Watson,  are  men- 
tioned by  name.      The  Return  from  Parnassus,  ed.  Arber,  p.  n. 

2  My  colleague,  Dr.  Homer  Smith,  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that,  in  the  lyrical 
poems  appended  to  the  sonnets  to  Delia,  XXXVIII.,  beginning  "  O  happy  golden 
age!  "  is  little  more  than  a  translation  of  a  chorus  in  Tasso's  Aminta. 


III. 

HISTRIOMASTIX    AND    THE    CASK    IS    ALTERED. 

The  first  attack  on  Marston  by  Jonson  is  found  in  Every 
Man  out  of  his  Humour.  Two  characters,  Clove  and  Orange, 
are  introduced  for  the  sole  purpose  of  "  talking  fustian "  and 
of  ridiculing  certain  unusual  words  used  by  Marston  in  The 
Scourge  of  Villanie  and  Histriomastix  ; '  the  latter  is  mentioned 
by  name,2  and,  as  such  mention  amounts  to  ridicule,  we  are  led 
to  examine  the  play  with  care  to  see  what  there  may  be  in  it  of 
a  nature  to  anger  Jonson. 

Histriomastix,  as  we  have  it,  seems  to  be  based  on  an  older 
play,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  show  how  the  pursuit  of 
learning  was  neglected  by  the  people,  who  preferred  other 
pleasures.  The  character  in  it  who  defends  the  pleasures  of 
learning  is  Chrisoganus  ;  and  in  reading  the  play  we  find  many 
things  in  which  the  scholar,  Chrisoganus,  resembles  Hen  Jon- 
son. There  is  in  the  play  a  severe  attack  on  some  playwright 
in  the  person  of  Posthast. 

There  are  two  theories  concerning  the  authorship  of  this 
play.  The  usually  accepted  theory,  advanced  and  supported 
by  Simpson,  is  thus  stated  :  "  The  drama,  as  it  has  come  to  us, 
is  manifestly  the  work  of  two  hands  and  of  two  times.  This 
is  proved  both  by  the  confusion  of  the  sub-play  in  Act  II.,  and 
by  the  alternative  endings  of  the  play.      As  originally  written, 

1  Under  the  general  heading  "  Unknown  Authors,"  Langbaine  has  this  entry: 
"Histriomastix,  or  The  Player  Whipt ;  printed  quarto,  London  1610.  This  play 
was  writ  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth  tho'  not  printed  till  afterwards  ;  as  appears 
by  the  last  speech  spoken  by  Peace  to  Astraea,  under  which  name  the  Queen  is 
shadowed."     An  Account  of  the  English  Dramatick  Poets,  1691,  p.  532. 

2  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  III.  1.     The  passage  is  discussed  below. 


32  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

the  sub-play  was  that  of  the  Prodigal  Child  ;  as  it  stands  now, 
we  have  both  the  original  sub-play  and  another  perfectly  dis- 
tinct one  on  Troilus  and  Cressida  foisted  in  on  its  shoulders."1 
"The  author  of  the  new  additions  to  the  play  is  clearly  Mar- 
ston.  His  unmistakable  swagger  begins  to  appear  in  Act  II., 
where  he  begins  to  transmute  the  academic  philosopher, 
Chrisoganus,  of  the  old  play,  into  the  poet-scholar  Chrisoganus 
of  the  new."2 

Simpson  tries  to  show  by  a  course  of  reasoning,  the  results  of 
which  do  not  concern  us  especially  here,  that  the  play  in  its 
original  form  was  probably  written  by  Peele  at  a  date  some- 
where near  1590,  and  that  "it  was  an  academical  exercise  for 
young  men  at  the  universities  or  for  schoolboys  to  act."3 

The  second  theory  concerning  the  authorship  of  Histriomas- 
tix  is  that  of  Mr.  Fleay,  who  apparently  considers  Marston  the 
sole  author  of  the  play  in  its  original  form  and  in  the  form  in 
which  we  have  it.4 

The  confusion  between  the  characters  Fourcher  and  Voucher 
(in  IV.  1  and  VI.  3)  and  the  two  endings  of  the  play  indicate 
alterations  in  the  original  form  to  adapt  it  for  court  perform- 
ance. 

It  is  perfectly  clear  that  Ben  Jonson  was  offended  at  the  play, 
and  that  Marston  is  responsible  for  its  extant  form,  containing, 
as  it  does,  many  words  and  phrases  at  which  Jonson  directed 
the  shafts  of  his  ridicule.  Jonson's  ridicule,  in  Every  Man  out 
of  his  Humour,  of  Marston's  vocabulary  used  in  Histriomastix 
and  The  Scourge  of  Villanic  is  the  first  direct  reply  to  Marston's 
ridicule  of  Jonson's  "new-minted  epithets." 

Jonson's  attack  on  Histriomastix  in  Every  Man  out  of  his 
Humour   in    1 599    establishes  an  upper  limit  for  the  date  of 


1  The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  3. 

2  ibid.,  p.  4.  3  ibid.,  pp.  9-14. 

4  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  72. 


HISTRIOMASTIX    AND    THE    CASE    IS    ALTERED.  33 

Histriomastix.  Since  Marston  is  spoken  of,  Sept.  28,  1599,  by 
Henslowe  as  "the  new  poete,"  '  the  date  of  Marston' s  share  in 
Histriomastix  cannot  be  much  earlier  than  that  year.  The 
date  is  probably  1599,  before  Jonson's  play.  "All  the  indica- 
tions of  date  agree  with  this,  and  the  year  being  thus  settled, 
the  fear  of  Spanish  invasion  ('the  Spaniards  are  come,'  V.  4) 
would  seem  to  fix  the  very  month  of  production,  for  it  was  in 
August  that  this  dread  was  excited."2 

Critics  have  been  practically  unanimous  in  the  opinion  that 
Jonson  is  represented  by  Chrisoganus,  for  the  general  character 
of  the  scholar-poet  agrees  closely  with  what  we  know  of  Jonson. 
That  Marston  intended  the  representation  to  be  satirical  is  by 
no  means  certain,  and  Mr.  Fleay  may  be  correct  in  his  opinion 
that  Marston  "  meant  to  compliment  Jonson,  not  to  abuse  him  ; 
and  the  indirect  compliment  to  the  man  who  had  been  rejected 
by  the  strollers,  and  was  now  poet  to  the  chief  company  in 
London,  second  only  to  Shakespeare,  was  as  delicate  as  it  was 
deserved." 3 

Chrisoganus  is  a  scholar  who  cares  not  for  the  opinion  of  the 
multitude.  He  is  also  a  poet,  and  on  offering  to  write  for  the 
new  company  of  players,  Sir  Oliver  Owlet's  men,  is  rejected, 


1  Lent  unto  \Vm.  Borne,  the  2S  of  septembr   1599.  to  lend  unto   Mr.    Maxton, 

the  new  poete  (Mr.  Mastone),  in  earneste  of  a  Boocke  called ,  the  some  of 

xxxx  s.     Henslowe 's  Diary,  p.  1  56. 

2  The  most  interesting  addition  that  Mr.  Fleay  has  made  to  our  knowledge  of 
this  play  is  the  result  of  his  argument  as  to  the  company  by  whom  this  play  was 
performed  at  court.  The  alternative  ending,  in  which  Astraea  personates  the 
Queen  enthroned,  shows  that  the  play  was  performed  at  court.  Mr.  Fleay  says  : 
••The  only  companies  who  performed  at  court  in  1  599-1600  were  the  Chamber- 
lain's, the  Admiral's,  and  Derby's.  The  plays  by  the  Admiral's  men  were  For- 
tunatits  and  The  Shoemaker's  Holiday.  This  one  [Histriomastix]  could  not  have 
been  acted  by  the  Chamberlain's  men,  as  it  is  satirized  by  Jonson  in  a  Chamber- 
Iain's  play.  It  was  therefore  necessarily  that  acted  by  Derby's  men,  who  at  this 
time  occupied  the  Curtain  from  which  another  company  had  been  ousted  and 
driven  to  travel."     Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  70. 

8  Chronicle  of the  English  Drama,  II.  71. 


34  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

and  the  position  is  given  to  Posthast.1  Simpson  thought  that 
Posthast  was  Shakespeare,  and  Sir  Oliver  Owlet's  men  the 
Chamberlain's  company.2  An  attempt  has  been  made  recently 
to  prove  Simpson's  hypothesis.3  If  Posthast  is  Shakespeare, 
then  it  is  impossible  for  Chrisoganus  to  be  Jonson,  for  we 
should  have  Chrisoganus  (Jonson)  rejected  as  writer  by 
Sir  Oliver  Owlet's  men  (the  Chamberlain's  company)  at  the 
very  time  that  Jonson  was  actually  writing  for  the  Chamber- 
lain's company,  by  whom  his  plays4  which  immediately  preceded 
and  followed  Histriomastix  were  performed.  If  Posthast  is 
Shakespeare,  then  Chrisoganus  is  probably  Marston  himself,  an 
hypothesis  for  which  there  is  evidence. 

While  the  general  attitude  of  Chrisoganus  towards  public 
opinion  is  similar  to  that  of  Jonson,  there  is  no  passage  in  the 
play  which  has  been  proved  to  be  a  definite  and  unmistakable 
allusion  that  will  apply  to  Jonson  and  to  no  one  else.  There 
is  no  allusion  to  any  of  Jonson's  works  except  the  possible 
allusion  to  his  translations  and  epigrams  in  a  passage  which  is 
almost  equally  applicable  to  Marston.     The  passage  is  — 

Chrisoganus.     O  did  you  but  your  own  true  glories  know, 

Your  judgments  would  not  then  decline  so  low  ! 

Philarchus.       What  !  Master  Pedant,  pray  forbeare,  forbeare. 

Chrisoganus.     Tis  you  my  Lord  that  must  forbeare  to  erre. 

Philarchus.       Tis  still  safe  erring  with  the  multitude. 

Chrisoganus.     A  wretched  morall  ;  more  than  barbarous  rude. 

Mavortius.        How  you  translating-scholler?     You  can  make 
A  stabbing  Satir  or  an  Epigram, 
And  thinke  you  carry  just  Ramnusia's  whippe, 
To  lash  the  patient ;  goe,  get  you  clothes, 
Our  free-borne  blood  such  apprehension  lothes.5 


1  Histriomastix,  III. 

2  The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  1 1  ;  also  p.  89. 

3  The  American  Journal  of  Philology,  XVI.  3,  article  by  Professor  Henry  Wood 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Shakespeare  burlesqued  by  two  Fellow  Dramatists. 

4 Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  1598,  and  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  1599. 
5  Histriomastix,  II.  11.  57-67. 


HISTRIOMASTIX    AM)    THE    CASE    IS    ALTERED.  35 

The  tone  of  Chrisoganus'  remarks  is  certainly  that  of  Jonson, 
and  the  allusion  to  his  poverty,  "  goe,  get  you  clothes,"  is  one 
of  the  regular  forms  of  attack  on  Jonson.  The  "  translating- 
scholler "  who  "can  make  a  stabbing  Satir,  or  an  Epigram" 
may  be  Jonson,  to  whom  the  words  are  peculiarly  applicable. 
In  Poetaster  (IV.  i)  Demetrius  (Uekker)  mentions,  as  the  chief 
offences  of  Horace  (Jonson),  "  his  arrogancy  and  his  impudence 
in  commending  his  own  things  "  and  "his  translating."  Jon- 
son left  numerous  translations,  and  that  he  prided  himself  on 
them  is  shown  by  his  mention  of  them  in  several  passages1  in 
the  Conversations  with  Drummond,  who  says  of  Jonson,  "but 
above  all  he  excelleth  in  a  translation."2 

Marston  seems  to  have  no  claim  to  the  title  "  translating- 
scholler,"  but  when  we  read  the  line,  "  And  thinke  you  carry 
just  Ramnusia's  whippe,"  we  are  reminded  of  Marston's 
Scourge  of  Villanie,  in  which  the  first  Satire  boldly  announces 
in  its  first  line  :  — 

I  bear  the  Scourge  of  just  Ramnusia.3 

This  certainly  seems  to  connect  Chrisoganus  with  Marston. 
Apart  from  this,  which  may  be  merely  a  general  reference  to 
Chrisoganus  as  a  satirist,  everything  points  to  Jonson  rather 
than  to  Marston  as  the  man  represented.  As  Simpson  remarks, 
Horace  (Jonson)  in  Poetaster  is  expressly  "made  a  satirist,  and 
in  the  very  title  of  Satiromastix  is  termed  so,  while  in  its  scenes 


x  Jonson's  Conversations  with  Drummond,  pp.  2,  5,  6,  29. 
-ibid.,  p.  41. 

8  It  is  possible  that  this  may  refer  to  Jonson,  although  there  is  no  passage  in 
Every  Man  in  his  Humour  to  which  it  is  an  allusion.  Dekker  in  Satiromastix 
(1601)  makes  Crispin  us  say  of  Horace,  "  he  calles  himselfe  the  whip  of  men,"  in 
allusion,  probably,  to  the  following  lines  in  the  Induction  to  Every  Man  out  of  his 
Humour:  — 

I  '11  strip  the  ragged  follies  of  the  time 

Naked  as  at  their  birth  —  and  with  a  whip  of  steel, 

Print  wounding  lashes  in  their  iron  ribs. 


36 


THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 


he  flings  about  his  epigrams."1  If  Chrisoganus  is  Jonson,  Mr. 
Fleay's  suggestion  that  the  high-minded  old  scholar  is  a  com- 
plimentary representation  gains  great  weight  from  the  following 
evidently  sincere  reply  of  Mavortius  :  — 


Chrisoganus. 
Mavortius. 


Follow,  and  lie  instruct  you  what  I  can. 
We  followed  beasts  before,  but  now  a  man.'2 


A  passage  which  is,  with  some  show  of  reason,  thought  to 
refer  to  Jonson  is  the  following,  in  which  the  players  are  bar- 
gaining with  Chrisoganus  for  a  play,  with  the  result  that  he  is 
rejected  and  Posthast  retained  as  poet  of  the  company  :  — 


Belch. 

Chrisoganus. 
Gulch. 
Chrisoganus. 


Clou  I. 

Gut. 

Chrisoganus. 


Chrisoganus,  faith,  what's  the  lowest  price? 

You  know  as  well  as  I  ;  tenne  pound  a  play. 

Our  companie's  hard  of  hearing  of  that  side. 

And  will  not  this  booke  passe  ?     alasse  for  pride  ! 
I  hope  to  see  you  starve  and  storme  for  books  ; 

And  in  the  dearth  of  rich  invention, 

When  sweet  smooth  lines  are  held  for  pretious, 

Then  will  you  fawne  and  crouch  to  Poesy. 

Not  while  goosequillian  Posthast  holds  his  pen. 

Will  not  our  own  stuffe  serve  the  multitude  ? 

Write  on,  crie  on,  yawle  to  the  common  sort 
Of  thick-skin'd  auditours  such  rotten  stuffs, 
More  fit  to  fill  the  paunch  of  Esquiline 
Than  feed  the  hearings  of  judiciall  eares. 
Yee  shades,  triumphe,  while  foggy  Ignorance 
Clouds  bright  Apollos  beauty  !  time  will  cleere 
The  misty  dulnesse  of  Spectators  eyes  : 
Then  woeful  hisses  to  your  fopperies  ! 
O  age  when  every  Scriveners  boy  shall  dippe 
Profaning  quills  into  Thessaliaes  spring  ; 
When  every  artist  prentice  that  hath  read 
The  pleasant  pantry  of  conceipts  shall  dare 
To  write  as  confident  as  Hercules  : 
When  every  ballad-monger  boldly  writes 


1  The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  i 

2  HistriomasHx,  VI.  11.  138-9. 


HISTRIOMASTIX    AND    THE    CASE    IS    ALTERED.  tf 

And  windy  forth  of  bottle-ale  doth  till 

Their  purest  organ  <>t  invention 

Yet  all  applauded  and  puft  up  with  pride, 
Swell  in  conceit,  and  load  the  stage  with  stuff 
Rakt  from  the  rotten  imbers  of  stall  jests  ; 
Which  basest  lines  best  please  the  vulgar  sense, 
Make  truest  rapture  lose  preheminence  ! 
Belch.  The  fellow  doth  talke  like  one  that  can  talke, 

Gut.  Is  this  the  well-learn'd  man  Chrisoganus? 

He  beats  the  ayre  the  best  that  ere  I  heard. 
Chrisoganus.     Ye  scrappes  of  wit,  base  Ecchoes  to  our  voice, 
Take  heed  ye  stumble  not  with  stalking  hie. 
Though  fortune  reels  with  strong  prosperity.1 

The  tone  of  this  is  undeniably  that  of  Jonson.  Simpson  says  : 
"A  study  of  Henslowe's  diary  will  show  that  before  1600  the 
highest  price  ever  paid  by  him  was  eight  pounds  or  nine  pounds. 
The  usual  price  varied  from  four  pounds  to  six  pounds.  Jon- 
son was  the  first  to  charge  ten  pounds.  It  was  for  Richard 
Crookback,  about  1600." 2  This  statement  is  not,  however, 
accurate,  for  the  date  was  not  1600,  but  1602,  and  the  ten 
pounds  was  not  for  a  single  play  but  for  a  new  play  and  altera- 
tions to  an  old  one.      Henslowe's  entry  is  — 

Lent  unto  bengemy  Johnsone,  at  the  apoyntment  of  E.  Alleyn  and  Wm. 
Birde,  the  24  of  June  1602,  in  earneste  of  a  boocke  called  Richard  crock- 
backe,  and  for  new  adicyons  for  Jeronymo,  the  some  of  X  li.3 

The  speech  of  Chrisoganus,  made  as  it  is  to  Posthast  and 
his  players,  and  referring  to  the  plays  written  by  Posthast,  is 
a  distinct  echo  of  Jonson's  own  accusations  against  Anthony 
Monday,  as  Antonio  Balladino,  in  The  Case  is  Altered,  I.  1 
(1598).  Onion  says  of  the  well-known  verse  "  My  mind  to  me 
a  kingdom  is,"  " 'T  is  somewhat   stale,"    and  Antonio   replies, 


1  Histriomastix,  III.  11.  179-215. 

2  The  School  o/Skakspere,  [I.  6. 
*  Henslowe's  Diary,  p.  223. 


38  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

"  Such  things  are  like  bread,  which,  the  staler  it  is,  the  more 
wholesome.  .  .  .  I  do  use  as  much  stale  stuff,  though  I  say 
it  myself,  as  any  man  does  in  that  kind,  I  am  sure.  Did  you 
see  the  last  pageant  I  set  forth  ?  "  Antonio  will  not  write  "  new 
tricks"  and  "nothing  but  humours;  indeed,  this  pleases  the 
gentlemen,  but  the  common  sort  they  care  not  for  't ;  they  know 
not  what  to  make  on  't  ;  they  look  for  good  matter,  they,  and 
are  not  edified  with  such  toys."  "Tut,  give  me  the  penny, 
give  me  the  penny,  I  care  not  for  the  gentlemen." 

Chrisoganus  tells  Posthast  to  "  Write  on,  crie  on,  yawle  to 
the  common  sort  of  thick-skin'd  auditours"  and  "load  the  stage 
with  stuff  rakt  from  the  rotten  imbers  of  stall  jests  :  which 
basest  lines  best  please  the  vulgar  sense." 

That  Anthony  Monday  was  satirized  in  Antonio  Balladino  is 
proved  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt  by  the  fact  that  Anto- 
nio Balladino  is  "  pageant  poet  to  the  city  of  Milan,"  and  is 
"  in  print  already  for  the  best  plotter."  Anthony  Monday  was 
pageant  poet  to  the  city  of  London  from  1605  to  1623,  and, 
although  the  pageants  from  1592  to  1604  are  missing,  it  is  the 
generally  received  opinion  that  Anthony  Monday  wrote  them.1 
Meres,  in  Palladis  Tamia,  mentions  "Anthony  Mundye,  our 
best  plotter."2  It  is  to  this  statement  that  Jonson  refers  in 
The  Case  is  Altered. 

Anthony  Monday  is  probably  the  man  represented  in  His- 
triomastix  by  Posthast,  a  character  which  agrees  in  so  many 
particulars  with  Antonio  Balladino  in  Jonson's  play.     Marston's 


1  History  of  Lord  Mayor's  Pageants,  Fairholt,  Terry  Society,  p.  32. 

2  Palladis  Tamia,  Haslewood  ;  English  Poets  and  Poesy,  II.  1  54.  Jonson's  allu- 
sion to  Meres  shows  that  The  Case  is  Altered is  of  date  later  than  Sept.  7,  1598, 
at  which  time  Palladis  Tamia  was  entered  S.  R.  Nashe,  in  Lenten  Stuffe  (Arashe, 
ed.  Grosart,  V.  299)  entered  S.  R.  Jan.  11,  1599,  mentions  "the  merry  cobler's 
cutte  in  that  witty  play  of  The  Case  is  Altered."  It  is  thus  possible  that  The  Case 
is  Altered  is  the  earliest  extant  play  of  Jonson,  for  it  certainly  antedates  Every 
.Van  out  of  his  Humour  and  possibly  Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  though  the  latter 
is  not  likely. 


HISTKIO.MAST1X     AND    THE    I    \M      IS     ALTERED.  39 

attack  on  Monday  as  Posthast  will  explain  the  hostility  between 
Carlo  (Marston)  and  Puntarvolo  (Monday)  in  Every  Man  out  of 
his  Humour,  which  results  in  Puntarvolo's  sealing  up  Carlo's 
mouth  j1  and  that  between  Anaides  (Marston)  and  Amorphus 
(Monday)  in  Cynthia  s  Revels. 

In  the  Apologetical  Dialogue  appended  to  Poetaster,  Jonson 
speaks  of  having  been  provoked  by  his  enemies  "  with  their 
petulant  styles  on  every  stage."  If  we  take  the  word  "  styles  " 
here  as  referring  to  manner  of  composition,  we  may  suppose 
that  the  striking  resemblance  between  the  speech  of  Chris- 
oganus2  and  the  opening  speech  of  Macilente8  is  the  result  of 
an  attempt,  on  the  part  of  Jonson,  to  show  Marston  how  that 
kind  of  a  speech  should  be  written.  Both  speeches  begin  with 
a  line  of  Latin  and  continue  with  a  comment  on  the  sentiment 
expressed. 

There  remains  to  be  noticed  a  piece  of  indirect  evidence 
going  to  prove  that  Chrisoganus  is  Jonson.  In  the  Conversa- 
tions with  Drummond,  Jonson  is  reported  to  have  said  that  — 

He  had  many  quarrells  with  Marston,  beat  him,  and  took  his  pistol  from 
him,  wrote  his  Poetaster  on  him  ;  the  beginning  of  them  were,  that  Mar- 
ston represented  him  in  the  Stage,  in  his  youth  given  to  venerie.  He  thought 
the  use  of  a  maide  nothing  in  comparison  to  the  wantoness  of  a  wyfe  and 


1  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  V.  4. 

2  Histriotnastix,  IV.  1.  132. 

Chrisoganus  (alone).     Summa  petit  livor,  perflant  altissima  vehti. 
Then,  poor  Chrisoganus,  who'll  envy  thee, 
Whose  dusky  fortunes  hath  no  shining  gloss 
That  Envy's  breath  can  blast  ?     O  I  could  curse 
This  idiot  world,  this  ill-nurst  age  of  Peace,  etc. 

3  Every  Man  out  of  his  Hum  oar,  I.  1. 

Macilente  (alone).      Viri  est,  fortunae  caecitatetn  facile  ferre. 

'Tis  true:   but  Stoic,  where  in  the  vast  world, 
Doth  that  man  breathe,  that  can  so  much  command 
His  blood  and  his  affection  ?     Well  I  see 
I  strive  in  vain  to  cure  my  wounded  soul,  etc. 


40  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

would  never  have  ane  other  mistress.  He  said  two  accidents  strange  befell 
him  :  one,  that  a  man  made  his  own  wyfe  to  court  him,  whom  he  enjoyed  two 
years  ere  he  knew  of  it,  and  one  day  finding  them  by  chance,  was  passingly 
delighted  with  it : J 

Mr.  Fleay  is  the  only  critic  that  has -offered  any  explanation  of 
the  representation  of  Jonson  by  Marston  as  "  given  to  venerie," 
and  his  explanation  is  that  Jack  Drum  is  the  play,  and  Monsieur 
John  fo  de  King  the  character  representing  Jonson.2  The  first 
of  the  "accidents  strange"  mentioned  by  Drummond  corre- 
sponds almost  exactly  with  an  incident  in  the  career  of  Mon- 
sieur John  fo  de  King.3  We  are  met  with  difficulties,  however, 
if  we  consider  this  character  to  be  the  representation  on  the 
stage  which  was  "the  beginning  "  of  the  quarrels,  for  the  play 
Jack  Drum  is  admitted  by  all  commentators  to  have  been  per- 
formed in  1600,4  the  year  after  Jonson's  attack  on  Marston  in 
Every  Man  out  of  /lis  Humour.  Jack  Drum,  therefore,  cannot 
be  "the  beginning"  of  the  quarrel,  in  spite  of  the  apparent 
agreement  with  the  statement  made  by  Jonson  to  Drum- 
mond. 

A  very  simple  solution  of  the  difficulty  concerning  Marston's 
representation  of  Jonson  which  was  "the  beginning"  of  the 
quarrel,  is  obtained  by  merely  transposing  two  punctuation 
marks  in  the  passage  from  Drummond  quoted  above.  Place  a 
period  after  "stage"  and  a  comma  after  "venerie"  and  read 
the  passage  thus  :  — 

.  .  .  the  beginning  of  them  were  that  Marston  represented  him  in  the 
stage.  In  his  youth,  given  to  venerie,  he  thought  the  use  of  a  maide  noth- 
ing in  comparison  to  the  wantoness  of  a  wyfe,  etc. 


1  Jonson 's  Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  20.     The' passage  is  here  given  as 
printed  by  Laing. 

-  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  74. 

3  Jack  Drum,  V.  1.  299  to  end  of  Act. 

4  The  School  of  Shakspere,  Simpson,  II.  127  ;    Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama, 
Fleay,  II.  72. 


HISTRIOMASTIX    AND     1111     CASE    l-    ALTERED.  41 

When  once  this   change   has    been    made,    its   necessity    is   so 
obvious  that  we  arc  doing  no  violence  to  the  passage  in    an 

attempt  to  prove  a  theory.3 

Having  shown  that  Jack  Drum,  while  probably  satirizing 
Jonson  as  Monsieur  John  fo  de  King,  is  too  late  to  have  been 
"  the  beginning"  of  the  quarrel,  we  are  forced  to  look  for  the 
first  representation  of  Jonson  by  Marston  "in  the  stage"  in 
an  earlier  play,  which  can  be  no  other  than  Histriomastix. 
The  only  character  in  Histriomastix  that  can  be  Jonson  is 
Chrisoganus.  There  are  so  many  indications  of  the  cor- 
rectness of  this  identification,  that  although  no  one  thing 
proves  it,  yet  the  cumulative  evidence  may  be  accepted  as 
conclusive. 

The  title  of  Histriomastix  indicates  that  the  object  of  the 
play  was  an  attack  on  Posthast  the  poet.  Allusion  has  been 
made  to  the  two  theories  concerning  the  identity  of  Posthast, 
and  some  evidence  has  been  adduced  to  prove  that  Anthony 


JThe  passage  with  its  new  punctuation  is  similar  in  structure  to  other  passages 
as  recorded  by  Drummond.  who  frequently  began  a  sentence  with  a  participial  con- 
struction.    These  are  instances  :  — 

"  Being  at  the  end  of  my  Lord  Salisburie's  table  with  Inigo  Jones,  and  de- 
manded by  my  Lord,  Why  he  was  not  glad?  My  Lord,  said  he,  etc."  Jonson' s 
Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  22. 

"  Ben  one  day  being  at  table  with  my  Lady  Rutland,  her  husband  comming  in, 
accused  her  that  she  keept  table  to  poets,  etc."     I  bid.,  p.  24. 

Tt  is  entirely  possible  that  a  change  in  punctuation  was  made  inadvertently  by  a 
copyist  in  transcribing  the  manuscript  from  which  Laing  printed  Drummond's 
"  notes,"  and  when  we  consider  that  this  manuscript  was  itself  a  transcript  and 
not  the  original  writing  of  Drummond,  there  seems  every  probability  that  the  new 
punctuation  suggested  gives  the  meaning  that  Drummond  intended.  F01  an 
account  of  the  way  in  which  Drummond's  notes  have  come  down  to  us,  see  the 
Preface  to  Laing's  edition,  pp.  21-23. 

Mr.  Fleay  quotes  in  two  places  (in  his  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama.  II.  71. 
74)  the  passage  from  Drummond,  the  first  time  without  comment,  as  if  it  were 
punctuated,  as  it  has  been  suggested  that  it  should  be,  with  a  period  after  "stage" ; 
the  second  time,  as  punctuated  by  Laing. 


42  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Monday    was    the   man   attacked.       Mr.    Fleay    gives    further 
reasons  for  the  identification  of  Posthast  with  Monday.1 

The  identification  of  Posthast  with  Shakespeare,  proposed 
by  Simpson,  has  been  advocated  recently  by  Professor  Henry 
Wood  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  in  an  article  to  which 
reference  has  been  made.2  Only  his  conclusions  need  be  men- 
tioned here.  Agreeing  with  Simpson,  that  Posthast  is  Shake- 
speare, and  therefore  "  Sir  Oliver  Owlet's  men  "  the  Chamber- 
lain's company,  Professor  Wood  brings  forward  some  interesting 
evidence  to  show  that  the  plays  of  Posthast,  the  titles  of  which 
are  The  Prodigal  Child,  The  Lascivious  Knight  and  Lady  Nature, 
Troilus  and  Cressida,  and  an  unnamed  play,3  are  burlesques 
of  Shakespeare's  Henry  LV.,  Sir  John  Falstaff  and  the  Merry 
Wives  of  Windsor  (the  original  title),  Troilus  and  Cressida,  and 
Henry  V.  Resemblances,  parodied  lines,  burlesqued  allitera- 
tions are  given  to  prove  the  hypothesis  that  Posthast  is  Shake- 
speare. We  have  already  pointed  out  what  seems  to  us  an 
insuperable  objection  to  any  identification  of  Posthast  and  Sir 
Oliver  Owlet's  men  with  Shakespeare  and  the  Chamberlain's 


1  "  [Derby's  men]  at  this  time  occupied  the  Curtain  from  which  another  com- 
pany had  been  ousted  and  driven  to  travel.  The  shareholders  among  these  latter, 
there  is  little  doubt,  were  Kempe,  Beeston,  Duke,  and  Pallant,  who  had  just  left 
the  Chamberlain's  men,  and  this  company  is,  I  think,  satirized  in  Histriomastix. 
The  poet  who  accompanies  them  is  a  '  pageanter  '  (IV.  3)  ;  has  been  a  ballad- 
writer  (V.  2,  VI.  5) ;  ought  to  be  employed  in  matter  of  state  (II.  2)  ;  is  great  in 
plotting  'new'  plays  that  are  old  ones  (II.  2)  ;  and  uses  'no  new  luxury  or  bland- 
ishment, but  plenty  of  Old  England's  mother  words.'  He  is  certainly  Anthony 
Monday. 

"  Posthast,  like  Monday,  can  sing  ex  tempore  (II.  4)  ;  but  his  principal  business  is 
to  refashion  other  men's  plays,  such  as  The  Prodigal  Son  .  .  .  and  Troilus  and 
Cressida  (from  Dekker  and  Chettle's  play  of  1  599).  The  allusion  '  when  he  shakes 
his  furious  spear  '  in  this  latter  (II.  4)  cannot,  unfortunately,  be  fully  explained, 
as  the  Dekker  play  is  not  extant  ;  but  it  probably  refers  to  something  therein 
anent  Shakespeare's  drama  on  the  subject  in  its  earlier  form."  Chronicle  of  the 
English  Drama,  II.  70,  71.     See  also  History  of  the  Stage,  pp.  137,  138,  158. 

2  See,  above,  p.  34,  note. 
8  Histriomastix,  II. 


HISTRIOMASTIX    AND    THE    CASE    IS    ALTERED.  43 

company.     If  Chrisoganus  is  Jonson,  and  it  seems   impossible 

to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  he  is,  then  Posthast  is  not  Shake- 
speare, because  Jonson  was  writing  for  the  Chamberlain's  men 
at  the  very  time  at  which  Chrisoganus  was  rejected  by  Post- 
hast's  company.     Apart  from  this  consideration  there  are  other 

difficulties  to  be  disposed  of  before  we  can  believe  that  Post- 
hast is  Shakespeare.  What  we  are  told  of  Posthast  agrees  in 
almost  no  particulars  with  what  we  know  of  Shakespeare.  We 
shall  have  to  prove  the  identification  on  the  principle  liteus  a 
non  lucendo,  or  invent  a  new  principle,  that  burlesque  proceeds 
by  contraries.  Of  course,  the  latter  might,  in  exceptional  in- 
stances, be  the  case,  but  only  when  there  was  special  reason 
for  such  treatment  of  a  subject  or  person.  On  this  principle, 
then,  we  might  explain  the  fact  that  Posthast  is  a  "gentleman- 
scholar"1  as  referring  to  Shakespeare,  who  was  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other.  Posthast  is  carefully  distinguished  from 
the  actors,  whereas  Shakespeare  was  an  actor.  While  the  evi- 
dence is,  to  say  the  least,  unsatisfactory  for  any  identification 
of  Posthast  with  Shakespeare,  the  facts  in  the  case  apply  almost 
without  exception  to  the  career  of  Anthony  Monday.  When 
Posthast  sings  ex  tempore  and  Landulpho  blushes  at  the  "  base 
trash  "  sung,2  we  are  reminded  that  Anthony  Monday  was 
notorious  for  having  sung  ex  tempore  and  having  been  hissed 
off  the  stage,  facts  which  we  learn  from  the  author  of  The  True 
Reporte  of  the  Death  and  Martyrdom  of  Thomas  Campion, 
1  58 1.  What  evidence  has  been  found  for  the  identification  of 
Posthast  is  given  by  the  critics  referred  to,  Simpson,  Mr.  Fleay, 
and  Professor  Wood.  We  are  especially  concerned  with  His- 
triomastix  only  so  far  as  it  affects  Jonson,  and  thus  enters  into 
"  The  War  of  the  Theatres." 


1  Histriomastix,  II.  1.  209. 
*ibid.,  II.  11.  304,  322. 


IV. 
EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUR. 

Carlo  Buffone,  a  satirical  representation  of  Marston  in 
Every  Man  out  of  Ids  Humour,  is  Jonson's  reply  to  Marston's 
representation  of  him  as  Chrisoganus  in  Histriomastix.  Jonson 
had,  by  his  former  plays,  made  enemies,  against  whom  he  wrote 
Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour}  a  play  performed  in  1 599  by 
the  Chamberlain's  company  at  the  Globe  Theatre.  Daniel, 
whom  Jonson  ridiculed  as  Master  Mathew  in  Every  Man  in  his 
Humour,  appears  again  as  Fastidious  Brisk,  but  it  is  Marston, 
as  Carlo  Buffone,  who  now  occupies  the  chief  place  in  the 
satire  by  being  the  object  of  the  most  severe  attack. 

When  the  play  was  published  Jonson  prefixed  to  it  a  brief 
description  of  each  character.     Carlo  Buffone  is  said  to  be  — 

A  public,  scurrilous,  and  profane  jester  ;  that,  more  swift  than  Circe, 
with  absurd  similes,  will  transform  any  person  into  deformity.  A  good 
feast-hound  or  banquet-beagle,  that  will  scent  you  out  a  supper  some  three 
miles  off,  and  swear  to  his  patrons,  damn  him  !  he  came  in  oars,  when  he 
was  but  wafted  over  in  a  sculler.  A  slave  that  hath  an  extraordinary  gift 
in  pleasing  his  palate,  and  will  swill  up  more  sack  at  a  sitting  than  would 
make  all  the  guard  a  posset.  His  religion  is  railing,  and  his  discourse  rib- 
aldry.   They  stand  highest  in  his  respect  whom  he  studies  most  to  reproach. 

Jonson  was  so  bent  upon  lashing  Marston  that,  at  the  end  of 
the  Induction,  Carlo  is  described  by  Cordatus  as  follows  :  — 

1That  the  play  provoked  criticism  by  its  personal  satire  is  clearly  indicated  by 
this  note  in  the  quarto:  — 

"  It  was  not  neare  his  thought  that  hath  published  this,  either  to  traduce  the 
Authour :  or  to  make  vulgar  and  cheape,  any  the  peculiar  and  sufficient  deserts 
of  the  Actors :  but  rather  (whereas  many  censures  fiutter'd  about  it)  to  give  all 
leave,  and  leisure,  to  judge  with  distinction." 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  45 

He  is  one,  the  author  calls  him  Carlo  Buffone,  an  impudent  common 
jester,  a  violent  railer,  and  an  incomprehensible  epicure  ;  one  whose  com 

pany  is  desired  of  all    men,  but  beloved  of  none  :   lie  will  sooner  lose  his 
soul  than  a  jest,  and  profane  even  the  most  holy  things,  to  excite  laughter  ; 
no  honourable  or  reverend  personage  whatsoever  can  come  within  tin 
of  his  eye,  but  is  turned  into  all  manner  of  variety,  by  his  adulterate  similes. 

Jonson  satirizes  other  persons,  but  he  makes  no  other  such 
violent  and  abusive  attack  as  this  on  Marston.  Carlo  appears 
in  the  opening  scene  and  gives  advice  to  Sogliardo  about  be- 
coming a  gentleman.  After  a  disparaging  speech  to  Sogliardo 
about  Macilente  (Jonson),  whom  he  had  not  observed  before, 
Carlo  turns  to  Macilente  with  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you  so  well 
returned,  Signior,"  to  which  Macilente,  who  had  heard  what 
Carlo  had  said  about  him,  replies,  "You  are  !  gramercy  good 
Janus."  Carlo  says  of  Macilente,  "  An  you  knew  him  as  I  do, 
you'd  shun  him  as  you  would  do  the  plague."  Thus  at  the 
outset  the  antagonism  and  hostility  between  Carlo  and  Maci- 
lente are  set  forth  prominently,  and  to  Carlo's  remark  on  leav- 
ing, Macilente  says  to  himself  :  — 

Ay,  when  I  cannot  shun  you,  we  will  meet. 
'Tis  strange  !  of  all  the  creatures  I  have  seen, 
I  envy  not  this  Buffone,  for  indeed 
Neither  his  fortunes  nor  his  parts  deserve  it  : 
Hut  I  do  hate  him  as  I  hate  the  devil, 
Or  that  brass-visaged  monster  Barbarism. 
O,  'tis  an  open-throated,  black-mouthed  cur, 
That  bites  at  all  but  eats  on  those  that  feed  him, 
A  slave,  that  to  your  face  will,  serpent-like, 
Creep  on  the  ground,  as  he  would  eat  the  dust, 
And  to  your  back  will  turn  the  tail  and  sting 
More  deadly  than  a  scorpion. 

At  the  close  of  Act  I.  Cordatus  says  of  Carlo  that  "  he  stood 
possest  of  no  one  eminent  gift  but  a  most  fiend-like  disposition, 
that  would  turn  charity  itself  into  hate,  much  more  envy,  for 
the    present."       The  abuse    of    Carlo,  that  has  been  quoted, 


46  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

might  be  applied  to  others  besides  Marston,  but  when  Puntar- 
volo  addresses  Carlo  as  "  thou  Grand  Scourge,  or  Second  Un- 
truss  of  the  Time"  (II.  1)  we  have  Marston  pointed  out  beyond 
question  1  as  appears  from  the  following  considerations  :  — 

1  Owing  to  mistaken  ideas  concerning  Dekker's  connection  with  "The  War  of 
the  Theatres,"  Carlo  Buffone  has  been  thought  by  some  critics  to  be  Dekker. 
There  are  some  conflicting  statements  on  this  subject  in  Mr.  Fleay's  Chronicle  of 
the  English  Drama.  Mr.  Fleay  says  (  I.  97)  :  "  I  thought  that,  if  anything  was 
settled  in  criticism,  it  was  the  identity  of  Crispinus  [Poetaster]  and  Carlo  Buffone 
with  Marston."  This  statement  is  correct,  but  in  another  passage  (I.  360)  we 
are  told  that  "Carlo  Buffone,  'the  Grand  Scourge  or  Second  Untruss  of  the 
Time '  is  Dekker ;  Marston,  author  of  The  Scourge  of  Villany,  being  the  first 
Untruss";  on  page  363  it  is  stated  that  the  characters  in  Cynthia's  Revels  are 
some  of  them  repeated  from  those  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,"  Anaides 
(Dekker)  from  Buffone,"  but  neither  identification  here  is  correct,  for  Anaides, 
like  Buffone,  is  Marston,  in  spite  of  the  statement  on  page  364,  "  The  description  of 
Anaides  (II.  1)  identifies  him  with  Carlo  Buffone  (Dekker)."  On  page  368  Mr.  Fleay 
says :  "  The  description  of  Demetrius  [Poetaster]  as  a  rank  slanderer,  etc.,  is  con- 
clusive as  to  his  identification  with  Buffone  and  Anaides."  "  Finally,  note  that 
Demetrius  as  much  as  Crispinus  affected  the  title  of  Untrusser,  neglect  of  which 
fact  has  led  to  the  common  mistake  in  making  Marston  Carlo  Buffone"  (p.  369). 
We  find  the  statement  made  (II.  71)  "  Hence  his  [Jonson's]  abuse  of  Marston; 
but  not  as  Carlo  Buffone,  the  Grand  Scourge  or  Second  Untruss  of  the  Time 
(Hall  being  the  first)  ;  for  Carlo  was  Dekker."  On  page  75  "Anaides  is  ac- 
knowledged to  be  Marston  "  although  in  the  statement  quoted  above  it  is  said  that 
"  Anaides  (Dekker)  "  is  repeated  from  Buffone.  In  a  letter  to  the  writer  Mr. 
Fleay  says :  "  I  changed  my  opinion  about  Buffone  when  I  had  written  about  half 
of  it  [Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama]  and  meant  to  correct  the  Dekker  bits 
when  revising  for  press,  but  the  printer  did  not  keep  to  the  time  promised  in 
sending  proofs  and  I  had  to  correct  many  while  in  the  country  away  from  my  book- 
shelves. .  .  .  The  statements  I.  360,  I.  363,  II.  71  are  certainly  wrong;  you  are 
right,  Carlo  =  Anaides  =  Marston  =  Second  Untruss.  The  point  I  missed  was 
that  Dekker  appears  first  in  Poetaster.  This  belongs  to  you."  Dekker  was  not 
attacked  until  Jonson  knew  that  Satiromastix  was  being  written  and  that  Dekker 
had  been  "  hired  "  to  write  it.  Dekker  has  no  claim  to  the  title  "  Grand  Scourge 
or  Second  Untruss  of  the  Time,"  although  he  did,  in  1601,  "Untruss"  the 
"Humorous  Poet."  Jonson  had  no  quarrel  with  Dekker  in  1599  when  Every 
Man  out  of  his  Humour  was  written,  in  fact,  Jonson  was  in  that  year  collaborating 
with  Dekker  in  the  writing  of  plays.  Henslowe's  Diary  contains  records  (pp.  155, 
156)  of  payments  made  to  Jonson  and  Dekker  jointly  Aug.  10,  1599,  and  to 
Jonson,  Chettle,  Dekker,  and  "other  Jentellman "  Sept.  3,  1599.  Critics  who 
have  found  Dekker  involved  in  the  "War."  at  its  close  have  assumed,  apparently 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  47 

The  Metamorphosis  of  Pigmaliori s  Image  ami  c  ertaine  Satyres, 
by  Marston,  was  entered  in  the  Stationers'  Register  May  27, 
1598  ;  The  Scourge  of  Villanie,  by  Marston,  was  entered 
Sept.  8,  1598;  Virgidemiarum,  by  Hall,  was  entered  March 
30,  1 598  j1  Seven  Satyres  applied  to  the  Week,  by  Rankins, 
was  entered  May  3,  1598.  In  the  Stationers'  Register  Mars- 
ton is  the  third  satirist,  but  priority  of  entry  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  priority  of  publication,  so  that  Marston' s  Satires 
may  not  have  been  third  in  date  of  publication.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  the  Satires  of  Rankins  were  comparatively  unimportant, 
and  attracted  little  attention  compared  to  the  more  pretentious 
works  of  Hall  and  Marston,  both  of  whom  were  "  Scourgers  " 
of  the  time,  Marston  calling  his  book  The  Scourge  of  Villanie, 
while  Hall  called  his  Virgidemiarum?  Marston  was  certainly 
the  second  "scourge"  whatever  position  we  assign  him  as  a 
satirist.3     In  his  Prologue  Hall  boldly  announces  :  — 

I  first  adventure,  follow  me  who  list 
And  be  the  second  English  satirist.4 


without  a  particle  of  proof,  that  he  was  involved  in  it  from  the  beginning,  and 
that  therefore,  whenever  we  find  in  Jonson's  plays  a  character  satirizing  Marston, 
we  will  find  another  character  representing  Dekker.  We  need  quote  here  only 
one  instance  of  such  criticism.  Dr.  Robert  Cartwright  says :  "Carlo  Buff  one, 
'Thou  Grand  Scourge,'  is  of  course  Marston.  .  .  .  Fastidious  Brisk  is  consequently 
Dekker."     Shakespeare  and  Jonson,  Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats,  p.  16. 

1  Hall  published  his  Satires  in  two  parts  :  in  1597  Virgidemiarum,  Six  Bookes  ; 
First  Three  Bookes  of  Toothlesse  Satyrs :  r.  Poeticall ;  2.  Academicall ;  3.  Moral/; 
in  159S  Virgidemiarum:  the  Three  Last  Bookes  of  Byting  Satyrs. 

'-'  1'irv-a  was  a  rod  or  switch,  and  was  used  of  the  rods  with  which  the  lictors 
scourged  criminals.  Virgidemia  is  a  comic  word  meaning  a  harvest  of  rods 
or  stripes.  The  name  of  Hall's  work  is  thus  equivalent  in  meaning  to  that  of 
Marston's. 

3  There  were  English  satirists  before  Hall.     Such  satires  as   Hake's  .V 
of  Paules  Churchyarde,  1507,  Gascoigne's  Steel  Glass,  1576,  and  Lod.ut s's  A 
Momus,  1595,  were  well  known  before  Hall  wrote.      Other  satirists,  earlier  than 
Hall,  might  be  mentioned. 

4  Hall  may  be  entitled  to  some  sort  of  priority,  as  bis  work  was  the  first  I  ng 
lish  satire  in  the  general  manner  of  Juvenal.    /  <  v^  •  ) 


48  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Virgidemiarum  became  popular  ;  and  as  Marston's  work,  simi- 
lar in  nature,  appeared  so  soon  after,  it  is  probable  that  Hall's 
lines  were  remembered  and  applied  to  Marston,  who  was  recog- 
nized generally  as  "the  second  English  satirist"  or  "the 
Second  Untruss."  In  calling  Carlo  the  "  Grand  Scourge  or 
Second  Untruss  of  the  Time,"  Jonson  was  using  an  appellation 
which,  to  the  audience,  was  almost  as  definite  as  the  name 
Marston  would  have  been. 

Puntarvolo  says  :  "  It  is  in  the  power  of  my  purse  to  make 
him  [Carlo]  speak  well  or  ill  of  me"  (II.  1).  Carlo  is  termed 
by  Fastidious  "a  damned  witty  rogue"  who  "confounds  with 
his  similes"  (II.  1)  ;  and  in  several  other  passages  Carlo's  simi- 
les are  spoken  of,  the  most  important  reference  to  them  being 
Macilente's  reproof,  "  You'll  never  leave  your  stabbing  similes  " 
(IV.  4).  If  we  understand  "simile"  in  its  rhetorical  sense, 
we  find  that  Marston  deserves  the  ridicule.  His  first  reference 
to  Jonson  contains  a  comparison  which  is  not  above  criticism  : 
"  Torquatus  .  .  .  that  like  some  rotten  stick  in  a  troubled  water 
hath  gotte  a  great  deale  of  barmie  froth  to  stick  to  his  sides."1 
Carlo's  speeches  abound  in  similes  for  which  he  is  ridiculed  by 
Fastidious  in  the  epithet  quoted  above.  The  remark  of  Fas- 
tidious is  occasioned  by  Carlo's  statement  concerning  Cinedo, 
"  He  looks  like  a  colonel  of  the  Pigmies  horse,  or  one  of  these 
motions  in  a  great  antique  clock"  (II.  1).  Carlo's  "vulgar 
phrase"   (Marston's  works  are  marred  by  coarse  language)  is 


Rev.  Thomas  Corser  says :  "  Marston  has,  till  very  lately,  been  usually  styled 
the  second  English  satirist,  Bishop  Hall  being  considered  the  first ;  he  is  men- 
tioned by  Charles  Fitzgeffrey  as  contesting  the  palm  of  priority  and  merit  in  satire 
with  Hall,  in  his  Affaniae,  or  three  books  of  Epigrams  in  Latin,  published  at 
Oxford  in  1601  :  — 

.  .  .  Satirarum  proxima  primae, 
Primaque,  fas  primas  si  numerare  duas. 

And  he  is  alluded  to  as  such  by  Warton  and  other  more  modern  writers."     Collec- 
tanea Anglo-Poetica,  IX.  13. 

1  "  To  those  that  Seeme  Judiciall  Perusers,"  The  Scourge  of  Villanie. 


EVERY    MAX    mi    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  49 

very  distasteful  to  Fastidious.     Carlo  says  that  Deliro  "looks 

like  one  of  the  Patricians  of  Sparta,"  and  Puntarvolo  "looks 
like  a  shield  of  brawn  at  Shrove-tide"  (IV.  4).  To  this  Maci 
lente  replies,  "  Come,  you '11  never  leave  your  stabbing  similes  ; 
I  shall  have  you  aiming  at  me  with  'em  by  ami  by"  (IV.  4) 
Carlo  does  aim  at  Macilente  with  a  simile  when  he  speaks  oi 
"lean  bald-rib  Macilente,  that  salt  villain,  plotting  some  mis- 
chievous device  and  lies  a  soaking  in  their  frothy  humours  like 
a  dry  crust,  till  he  has  drunk  'em  all  up  "  (V.  4).  The  most 
severe  attack  on  Marston  as  a  man  is  the  repeated  reference 
to  his  treachery  and  double  dealing.  Marston  was  a  gentleman 
as  regards  birth,  his  father  being  a  Counsellor  of  the  Middle 
Temple.  When  Sogliardo  procures  a  coat  of  arms  Carlo  gives 
him  advice  about  how  to  conduct  himself  as  a  gentleman. 
Jonson  puts  into  the  speech  of  Carlo  a  severe  arraignment  of 
Marston. 

Carlo  (to  Sogliardo).  Nay,  look  you,  sir,  now  you  are  a  gentleman,  you 
must  carry  a  more  exalted  presence,  change  your  mood  and  habit  to  a  more 
austere  form  ;  be  exceeding  proud,  stand  upon  your  gentility,  and  scorn 
every  man  ;  speak  nothing  humbly,  never  discourse  under  a  nobleman, 
though  you  never  saw  him  but  riding  to  the  Star  Chamber,  it's  all  one. 
Love  no  man  ;  trust  no  man  ;  speak  ill  of  no  man  to  his  face  ;  nor  well  of 
any  man  behind  his  back.  Salute  fairly  on  the  front,  and  wish  them  hanged 
upon  the  turn.  Spread  yourself  upon  his  bosom  publicly,  whose  heart  you 
would  eat  in  private.     These  be  principles,  think  on  them.1 

The  sentiments  of  this  speech  are  repeated  in  the  following 
words  of  Carlo  :  — 

Tut,  a  man  must  keep  time  in  all  ;  I  can  oil  my  tongue  when  I  meet  him 
next,  and  look  with  a  good  sleek  forehead  ;  't  will  take  away  all  soil  of  sus- 
picion, and  that's  enough:  what  Lynceus  can  see  my  heart?  Pish,  the 
title  of  a  friend  !  it's  a  vain  idle  thing,  only  venerable  among  fools  ;  you 
shall  not  have  one  that  has  any  opinion  of  wit  affect  it.2 


-  IV 


50  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

We  have  a  remarkable  scene  (V.  4)  referring  undoubtedly  to 
some  actual  incident,  as  is  shown  by  the  question  of  Mitis, 
"  Whom  should  he  [Carlo]  personate  in  this  ?  "  Carlo,  alone  in 
a  room  at  the  Mitre,  is  represented  with  two  wine  cups,  per- 
sonating two  men,  who,  after  drinking  healths,  quarrel  and 
overturn  the  table.  They  pledge  "  that  honourable  Countess  " 
and  also  "  the  Count  Frugale,"  who  is  mentioned  by  Fastidi- 
ous as  one  of  his  friends  (II.  1).  The  pledge  is  drunk  by 
Carlo  kneeling.1  When  Macilente  enters  he  tells  Carlo  to 
ridicule  the  others  when  they  come.  Carlo  then  utters  words, 
which  are  in  imitation  of  Marston's  language  :  "  Whoreson, 
strummel-patched,  goggle-eyed  grumbledories,  gigantoma- 
chized."  Carlo  expresses  the  opinion  that  man  resembles 
nothing  so  much  as  swine,  and  therefore  "  pork  is  your  only 
feed."  The  climax  of  the  play  is  reached  when  Puntarvolo 
seals  up  Carlo's  mouth.  When  the  constables  arrive  Carlo 
and  Fastidious  are  arrested.  This  indicates  that  the  men 
(Marston  and  Daniel)  satirized  as  Carlo  and  Fastidious  were 
the  persons  at  whom  the  play  was  especially  aimed. 

Marston's  first  attack  on  Jonson  consisted  of  ridicule  of 
"new-minted  epithets  (as  reall,  intrinsecate,  Delphicke)."2 
At  his  earliest  opportunity,  Jonson  retorted  by  ridiculing  Mars- 
ton's "fustian."  It  is  for  this  purpose  that  Clove  and  Orange, 
"  mere  strangers  to  the  whole  scope  of  our  play,"  are  intro- 
duced in  the  scene  laid  in  the  Middle  Aisle  of  St.  Paul's  (III.  1). 
Orange  is  "  nothing  but  salutations."  The  ridicule  of  Marston's 
vocabulary  is  contained  in  the  following  passage,  in  which  His- 
triomastix  is  named  :  — 


1  Carlo  =  Anaides  (Cynthia's  Revels),  of  whom  we  are  told,  "  He  never  kneels 
but  to  pledge  healths  "  (II.  i).  See  discussion  of  Anaides,  below.  It  was  a  com- 
mon custom  to  drink  healths  kneeling.  Allusions  to  it  are  found  in  Chapman's 
May  Day,  II.  i  ;  Fletcher's  Coxcomb,  I.  5,  and  in  a  number  of  other  plays. 

2  "  To  those  that  Seeme  Judiciall  Perusers,"  The  Scourge  of  Villanie.  See 
above,  p.  4. 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  ;i 

Clove.  Now,  sir,  whereas  the  ingenuity  oJ  the  time,  And  the  soul's  syn- 
derisis  are  but  embrions  in  nature,  added  to  the  pauni  h  of  Esquiline,  and 
the  intervallum  of  the  zodiac,  besides  the  ecliptii  line  being  optic,  and  not 
mental,  but  by  the  contemplative  and  theoric  pan  thereof,  doth  demonstrate 
to  us  the  vegetable  circumference,  and  the  ventosity  ol  the  tropics,  and 
whereas  our  intellectual  or  mincing  capreal  (according  to  the  metaphysii  ks) 
as  you  may  read  in  Plato's  Histriomastix —  you  conceive  me.  sir? 

c  Grange.    O  lord,  sir  ! 

Clove.  Then  coming  to  the  pretty  animal,  as  reason  Long  since  is  tied  to 
animals,  you  know,  or  indeed  for  the  more  modelizing,  or  enamelling,  or 
rather  diamondizing  of  your  subject,  you  shall  perceive  the  hvpoti 
galaxia  (whereof  the  meteors  long  since  had  their  initial  inceptions  and 
notions),  to  be  merely  Pythagorical,  mathematical,  and  aristocratical  — 
For,  look  you,  sir,  there  is  ever  a  kind  of  concinnity  and  species —  Let 
us  turn  to  our  former  discourse,  for  they  mark  us  not.1 

1  The  common  error  concerning  Dekker's  connection  with  the  "  War"  has  ltd 
some  critics  to  identify  Clove  and  Orange  with  Marston  and  I  >ekker.  1  >r.  Brins- 
ley  Nicholson  says:  "With  regard  to  the  parts  of  (love  and  Orange,  who,  as 
Cordatus  says,  'are  mere  strangers  to  the  whole  scope  of  our  play,'  the  extrava- 
gant diction  of  John  Marston  was  without  a  doubt  ridiculed  in  Clove's  fustian 
phrases,  while  to  every  appearance  Thomas  Dekker  was  ridiculed  as  Orange." 
(A'h  Jonson,  ed.  Brinsley  Nicholson,  Mermaid  Series,  I.  no.)  Simpson  accepts 
the  opinion  of  Dr.  Nicholson  {The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  5).  It  needs  no 
long  argument  to  show  that  both  of  these  identifications  are  incorrect  although 
Marston  is  ridiculed.  Carlo  (Marston)  is  on  the  stage  when  (love  utters 
the  fustian.  Nothing  is  said  of  Orange  that  can  be  applied  to  Dekker,  with 
whom,  moreover,  Jonson  had  at  this  time  no  quarrel.     (See  note  above,  p.  46.) 

Of  the  fustian  words  used  by  Clove  we  find  that  Marston  uses  the  following  : 
in  Histriomastix,  zodiac,  ecliptic,  tropic,  mathematical,  demonstrate  (I.  1 ).  paun<  h 
of  Esquiline  (III.  4);  in  The  Scourge  of  Villanie,  synderisis,  Sat.  VIII.  (Emulo's 
use  of  "synderisis  of  soul"  is  ridiculed,  Patient  Grissil,  III.  2);  mincing  capreal. 
Sat.  XI.;  capreal,  Sat.  I. ;  circumference,  Sats.  VI..  X.;  intellectual,  "To  Detrac- 
tion," Sats.  IV.,  VII.,  VIII.,  XI.;  contemplation  (not  contemplative)  Sats.  VIII., 
XI.;  1'ythagoran  (not  Pythagorical)  Sat.  III.  (Emulo  is  ridiculed  for  using 
•'  Diogenicall,"  Patient  Grissil,  II.  1)  ;  "  diamondize  "  and  "modelize"  seem  to  be 
in  ridicule  of  the  forming  of  verbs  by  adding  "  ize  "  as  Marston  does  (cf.  idola- 
trize,  Sat.  VIII.,  also  Brisk's  use  of  "  sinewize  "  and  "arteri/e."  III.  1.  and  Juni- 
per's "  pilgrimize,"  Case  is  Altered,  II.  4).  "  Ingenuity "  is  used  by  Brisk  and 
ridiculed  by  Macilente,  III.  3.  The  vocabularies  of  Emulo  (Patient  Grissil)  and 
Brisk  (both  of  whom  are  probably  satires  on  Daniel)  are  ridiculed,  and  some  of 
their  words  are  used  by  Clove  and  termed  "fustian,"  so  that  Marston  may  not  be 
the  only  writer  whose  language  is  here  attacked. 


52  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Fastidious  Brisk  is  not  subjected  to  the  bitter  personal  abuse 
that  is  showered  upon  Carlo  Buffone,  but  he  is  none  the  less 
held  up  to  ridicule  for  his  devotion  to  dress,  and  his  obsequi- 
ous attendance  upon  ladies  of  the  court.  He  is  a  courtier,  and 
in  this  character  Jonson  ridicules  the  poet  Daniel.1  He  is 
described  thus  :  — 

A  neat,  spruce,    affecting  courtier,  one  that  wears  clothes  well,  and  in 

fashion  ;   practiseth  by  his  glass,  how  to  salute  ;  speaks  good  remnants, 

notwithstanding  the  base  viol  and  tobacco  ;  swears  tersely,  and  with  variety  ; 
cares  not  what  lady's  favour  he  belies,  or  great  man's  familiarity  ;  a  good 

property  to  perfume  the  boot  of  a  coach.  He  will  borrow  another  man's 

horse  to  praise,  and  backs  him  as  his  own.  Or,  for  a  need,  on  foot  can  post 

himself  into  credit  with  his  merchant,  only  with  the  gingle  of  his  spur,  and 
the  jerk  of  his  wand. 

This  character  is  drawn  in  ridicule  of  the  absurd  customs  of 
the  gallants,  but  also  of  an  individual  who  bears  a  striking  re- 
semblance to  Master  Mathew  in  Every  Man  in  his  Humour, 
and  Emulo  in  Patient  Grissil.  Cordatus  describes  Fastidious 
as  a  "fresh,  Frenchified  courtier  ...  as  humorous  as  quick- 
silver" (I.  i).  Throughout  the  play  Fastidious  is  ridiculed  for 
boasting  of  his  intimacy  with  the  nobility  and  his  familiarity 
with  court  life.  His  flattery  of  ladies  and  his  exquisite  clothes 
are  ridiculed.  He  boasts  of  his  horses  (II.  i).  Carlo  ridicules 
Fastidious'  use  of  "  arride  "  (II.  i),  and  Macilente  ridicules  the 
use  of  "ingenuity"  for  "wit"  (III.  3).  Fastidious  is  ridiculed 
whenever  he  appears,  and  when  he  boasts  of  his  court  friends, 
"Count  Frugale,  Signior  Illustre,  Signior  Luculento2  and  a 
sort  of  'em,"  Carlo  remarks  :  "There's  ne'er  a  one  of  these 
but  might  lie  a  week  on  the  rack  ere  they  could  bring  forth  his 
name"  (II.  1).     Puntarvolo  asks  Fastidious  whether  he  knows 

1  Mr.  Sidney  Lee  states  that  Jonson  ridiculed  Lyly  in  the  character  of  Fastidi- 
ous Brisk.  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  s.  v.  John  Lyly,  p.  331.  Allusion 
was  made  above  (note,  p.  47)  to  the  identification  of  Fastidious  Brisk  with  Dekker. 

2  With  whom  he  fought  the  duel  described  in  IV.  4. 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  53 

"our  court  star  there,  that  planet  of  wit   Madonna  Saviolina." 

Fastidious  replies  that  she  is  his  mistress,  and  that  he  has  her 
scarf,  or  riband,  or  feather  (II.  i).  Madonna  Saviolina  is  per- 
haps the  same  as  Mathew's  Madonna  Hesperida.1  She  i.^ 
probably  the  Delia  of  Daniel.2 

Carlo  and  Fastidious  dislike  each  other,  ami  Carlo  says  <>t 
Fastidious  :  — 

A  gull,  a  fool,  no  salt  in  him  'i  the  earth,  man:  he  looks  like  a  fresh 
salmon  kept  in  a  tub  ;  he'll  be  spent  shortly.  His  brain  's  lighter  than  his 
feather  already,  and  his  tongue  more  subject  to  lye,  than  that  is  to  wag 
he  sleeps  with  a  musk-cat  every  night,  and  walks  all  day  hanged  in  poman- 
der chains  for  penance  ;  he  has  his  skin  tanned  in  civet,  to  make  his  com- 
plexion strong,  and  the  sweetness  of  his  youth  lasting  in  the  sense  of  his 
sweet  lady  ;  a  good  empty  puff.8 

Fastidious  is  ridiculed  constantly  for  his  fine  clothes.  He 
thinks  that  "rich  apparel  hath  strange  virtues"  (II.  2).  He 
declares  :  — 

I  had  three  suits  in  one  year  made  three  great  ladies  in  love  with  me  ; 
I  had  other  three  undid  three  gentlemen  in  imitation  ;  and  other  three  gat 
three  other  gentlemen  widows  of  three  thousand  pound  a  year. 

Jonson  attacks  Daniel's  poetry  in  a  passage  (III.  1.)  in  which 
Fastidious  is  made  to  use  expressions  taken  from  The  Com- 
plaint of  Rosamond. 

Fast.  Good  Signior  Macilente,  if  this  gentleman,  Signior  Deliro,  furnish 
you,  as  he  says  he  will,  with  clothes,  I  will  bring  you,  to-morrow  by  this  time. 
into  the  presence  of  the  most  divine  and  acute  lady  in  court  ;  you  shall  see 
sweet  silent  rhetoric,  and  dumb  eloquence  speaking  in  her  eye. 

1  Every  Man  in  his  Humour  (quarto),  V.  1. 

2  Nashe  dedicated  The  Terrours  of  tlie  Night  to  Mistress  Elizabeth  Carey, 
'sole  daughter'  of  Sir  George  Carey,  Knight.  "  Miraculous,"  says  Nashe,  " is 
your  wit,  and  so  is  acknowledged  by  the  wittiest  poets  of  our  age,  who  have  vowed 
to  enshrine  you  as  their  second  Delia."  Mr.  Fleay  identities  Elizabeth  Carey 
with  Daniel's  Delia,  and  says  :  "  The  first  Delia  was  Queen  Elizabeth."    < 

of  the  English  Drama,  I.  S6. 
»II.  1. 


54  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Gifford  notes  this  ridicule  of  Daniel's  expressions  used  in  the 
following  passage  :  — 

Ah,  Beauty,  Syren,  fair  enchanting  good, 

Sweet  silent  rhetoric  of  persuading  eyes, 

Dumb  eloquence,  whose  power  doth  move  the  blood, 

More  than  the  words  or  wisdom  of  the  wise  1 

It  is  possible  that  Daniel's  sonnets,  while  not  quoted,  may- 
have  been  in  Jonson's  mind,  when,  to  an  absurd  wish  of  Fas- 
tidious that  he  might  be  the  viol  on  which  his  mistress  plays, 
Macilente  remarks  :  "  I  like  such  tempers  well  as  stand  before 
their  mistresses  with  fear  and  trembling,  and  before  their 
Maker  like  impudent  mountains."  There  are  several  passages 
in  which  Macilente  declares  that  Fastidious  is  not  known  at 
court.  Fallace,  who  favors  Fastidious,  attributes  these  state- 
ments of  Macilente  to  envy  (IV.  i.),  which  was  probably  the 
real  cause  of  Jonson's  hostility  to  Daniel.2  The  facts  concern- 
ing Daniel  correspond  in  general  with  what  we  are  told  of  Fas- 
tidious and  his  connection  with  ladies  of  the  court.3 

1  The  Complaint  of  Rosamond.  Sir  John  Davies  has  an  epigram  on  Daniel's 
"silent  eloquence,"  In  Dacttm,  45:  — 

Dacus  with  some  good  colour  and  pretence 
Tearmes  his  loves  beautie  silent  eloquence, 
For  she  doth  lay  more  colours  on  her  face 
Than  even  Tully  used,  his  speech  to  grace. 
The  Complete  Poems  of  Sir  John  Davies,  ed.  Grosart,  II.  42. 

Shakespeare's  Sonnet  23  speaks  of  "  eloquence  and  dumb  presagers  "  of  "  silent 
love,"  which  Mr.  Fleay  thinks  is  a  hit  at  this  passage  of  Daniel's.  Chronicle  of  the 
English  Drama,  II.  215. 

2  See  above,  p.  13. 

3  Daniel  was  tutor  to  William  Herbert,  and  lived  at  Wilton,  the  seat  of  his 
pupil's  father.  With  Mary,  Countess  of  Pembroke,  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  sister  and 
young  Herbert's  mother,  Daniel  was  on  terms  of  intimacy.  Later  he  became  tutor 
to  Anne,  daughter  of  Margaret,  Countess  of  Cumberland.  The  dedications  of 
many  of  his  poems  show  that  he  was  intimate  with  the  nobility.  Daniel  is  said 
traditionally  to  have  succeeded  Spenser  as  Laureate  in  1599,  the  year  in  which 
this  play  was  produced.  This  fact  may  have  a  close  connection  with  the  attack 
on  Daniel  as  Fastidious  Brisk. 


EVERY    MAN    our    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  55 

Fastidious  describes  a  duel  which  he  fought  with  Signior 
Luculento  (IV.  4).1  As  the  cause  of  the  duel  was  "the  same 
that  sundered  Agamemnon  and  great  Thetis'  son,"  and  as 
Daniel,  in  his  sonnets  to  Delia,  68  and  69,  intimates  that  he 
had  been  wronged,  it  is  possible  that  Luculento  may  be  Lord 
Berkeley,  whom  Elizabeth  Carey  (identified  as  Delia  by  Mr. 
Fleay)  married.2  Fastidious  is  arrested  with  Carlo  (IV.  4),  and 
is  visited,  in  the  counter,  by  Fallace  and  Macilente.  The 
latter  remarks,  "This  it  is  to  kiss  the  hand  of  a  Countess,  to 
have  her  coach  sent  for  you,"  etc.,  referring  to  the  boasts  that 
Fastidious  had  made.  We  cannot  identify  the  Countess  with 
whom  Fastidious  was  acquainted,  but  the  career  of  Daniel 
would  indicate  that  either  the  Countess  of  Pembroke  or  the 
Countess  of  Cumberland  might  possibly  be  alluded  to.3 

The  sole  ambition  of  Fungoso  seems  to  be  to  dress  like  Fas- 
tidious.     Fungoso  is  described  as  — 

The  son  of  Sordido,  and  a  student  ;  one  that  has  revelled  in  his  time, 
and  follows  the  fashion  afar  off,  like  a  spy.  He  makes  it  the  whole  bent  of 
his  endeavours  to  wring  sufficient  means  from  his  wretched  father,  to  put 
him  in  the  courtier's  cut,  at  which  he  earnestly  aims,  but  so  unluckily,  that 
he  still  lights  short  a  suit. 

Fungoso  is  godson  of  Puntarvolo.  He  studies  law  and  is  a 
gentleman  (II.  1).  Pretending  to  need  law  books,  Fungoso 
obtains  money  from  his  father  and  spends  it  on  clothes  (II.  1). 
His  sister  Fallace  is  wife  of  Deliro,  the  citizen.  Fungoso  is 
dunned  for  bills  by  his  tailor,  shoemaker,  and  haberdasher 
(IV.  5),  but  succeeds  in  putting  them  off.  His  expensive 
habits  of  dress  get  him  into  debt,  so  that  he  is  said  to  keep  a 


1  This  duel  is  similar  to  that  between  Emulo  and  Owen  in  Patient  Grissil.  III.  z. 
See  below. 

-  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  86.  Mr.  Fleay  identifies  Luculento  with 
Drayton.  Ibid.,  p.  361.  Luculento  is  mentioned  in  only  one  other  passage,  and 
then  by  Fastidious  as  being  a  gentleman  of  the  court,  II.  1. 

acf.  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  s.v.  Samuel  Daniel,  pp.  25,  26. 


56  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

tailor,  "in  place  of  a  page,  to  follow  him  still"  (IV.  5).  After 
Carlo  and  Fastidious  have  been  arrested  (V.  4),  Fungoso  is  dis- 
covered under  a  table  and  is  made  responsible  for  the  bill. 
He  is  constantly  ridiculed  for  having  such  fine  clothes  and  no 
money  with  which  to  pay  for  them.  Deliro  pays  the  bill  at  the 
tavern  for  Fungoso  (V.  6).  The  reference  to  the  tailor's  bill 
which  Fungoso  was  unable  to  pay  is,  in  itself,  almost  sufficient 
to  identify  him  with  Lodge,  who  was  notorious  for  having  been 
arrested  in  1595  at  the  instigation  of  R.  Topping,  of  the 
Strand,  tailor.  There  are  extant  several  documents  which  deal 
with  the  lawsuit  concerning  this  bill.  They  date  from  1595 
to  1598.  Lodge  fled  "beyond  seas,"  and  Henslowe,  who  had 
gone  bail  for  him,  refused  to  pay  the  bail  or  to  disclose  Lodge's 
hiding-place.  Henslowe  finally  agreed  to  pay,  and  decision 
was  rendered  against  him.1  When  Lodge  published  A  Fig  for 
Momus,  1595,  the  title-page  bore  the  name  of  the  author  as 
"T.  L.  of  Lincolne's  Inne,  Gent."  We  find  in  Lodge's  study 
of  law  the  original  of  Fungoso's  study  of  law,  but  Lodge,  like 
Fungoso,  did  not  persevere  in  the  law.  When  Fungoso  hides 
under  the  table  (V.  6)  we  have,  perhaps,  an  allusion  to  Lodge's 
hiding  during  the  trouble  with  the  tailor.  It  is  not  impossible 
that  the  numerous  references  to  a  "  suit "  and  to  Fungoso's 
being  "short  a  suit"  may  have  a  double  meaning  and  include 
the  lawsuit.  Fungoso  imitates  and  praises  Brisk.  Lodge 
imitated  and  praised  Daniel.2      Fungoso  is  at  court  in  V.  2. 


1  For  a  summary  of  the  facts  concerning  this  lawsuit,  see  Mr.  Fleay's  Chronicle 
of  the  English  Drama,  II.  46.  Mr.  Edmund  W.  Gosse  seems  inclined  to  doubt 
that  it  was  the  poet  Lodge  who  was  concerned  in  this  suit.  The  Complete  Works 
of  Thomas  Lodge,  printed  for  the  Hunterian  Club,  1883,  "  Memoir  of  Thomas 
Lodge,"  I.  30. 

2  In  1592  Daniel  published  Delia,  contayning  certayne  Sonnets :  with  the  Com- 
plaint of  Rosamond,  and  in  the  next  year  Lodge  published  a  book  in  many  respects 
similar  to  Daniel's,  entitled,  Phillis  :  honoured  with  Pastorall  Sonnets,  Elegies  and 
Amoro/ts    Delights,  wherennto  is  annexed  the    Tragicall    Complaynt    of  Elstred. 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OP    HIS    HUMOUR.  57 

Macilente,  who  appears  in  the  Induction  as  Asper,  the 
author,  is  the  first  of  the  pictures  of  himself  that  Jonson  is 
famous  for  having  drawn.     Asper  is  described  as  being  — 

of  an  ingenious  and  free  spirit,  eager,  and  constant  in  reproof,  without  fear 
controlling  the  world's  abuses.  One  whom  no  servile  hope  of  gain  or  frosty 
apprehension  of  danger,  can  make  to  be  a  parasite,  either  to  time,  place  or 
opinion. 

Macilente,  the  character  which  Asper  assumes  in  the  play, 
is  — 

A  man  well-parted,  a  sufficient  scholar,  and  travelled  :  who,  wanting  that 
place  in  the  world's  account  which  he  thinks  his  merit  capable  of,  falls  into, 
such  an  envious  apoplexy,  with  which  his  judgment  is  so  dazzled  and  dis- 
tasted, that  he  grows  violently  impatient  of  any  opposite  happiness  in  another. 

The  Induction,  with  Asper  and  his  friends,  Mitis  and  Corda- 
tus,  as  the  speakers,  contains  Jonson's  bold  announcement  of 
the  purpose  of  his  play  and  his  defiance  of  the  critics. 

I  fear  no  mood  stamped  in  a  private  brow, 
When  I  am  pleased  t'  unmask  a  public  vice. 

Asper  is  warned  by  Mitis  and  Cordatus  that  he  will  stir  up 
antagonism  and  produce  no  good  result.  He  replies  to  this  in 
terms  of  haughty  defiance  of  the  world.  When  Asper  is  about 
to  leave  the  stage  he  says  :  — 


That  Lodge  had  Daniel  in  mind  in  writing  this  book  is  shown  by  the  opening 
poem,  Induction,  in  which  occur  these  lines  :  — 

Kiss  Delia's  hand  for  her  sweet  prophet's  sake, 
Whose  not  affected,  but  well  couched  tears 
Have  power,  have  worth,  a  marble  minde  to  shake  ; 
Whose  fame  no  Iron-age,  or  time  outweares ! 
Then  lay  you  down  in  P/ii//is'  lappe  and  sleepe, 
Untill  she  weeping  read  and  reading  weepe. 

Lodge's  A  Fig  for  Motrins,  1595,  contained  an  Eclogite  (No.  4)  to  Samuel 
Daniel.  Jonson  has  combined  the  tailor's  bill  and  Lodge's  imitation  of  Daniel  in 
Fungoso's  imitation  of  Fastidious  lirisk's  clothes. 


58  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Now  gentlemen  I  go 
To  turn  an  actor  and  a  humorist, 
Where,  ere  I  do  resume  my  present  person, 
We  hope  to  make  the  circles  of  your  eyes 
Flow  with  distilled  laughter  :  if  we  fail 
We  must  impute  it  to  this  only  chance 
Art  hath  an  enemy  called  ignorance. 

Surely  this  is  no  way  to  win  the  favour  of  an  audience  !  Jon- 
son  had  undoubtedly  been  subjected  to  much  harsh  criticism, 
as  is  shown  by  the  tone  of  this  Induction,  and  we  look  forward 
to  the  play  itself,  knowing  that  it  is  to  be  a  reply  to  his  critics. 
/Throughout  the  play  Macilente  occupies  the  position  of  critic, 
and  is  not  intimately  connected  with  the  plot,  many  of  his 
speeches  being  "  asides  "  which  reveal  to  us  the  relationship 
which  Jonson  sustained  to  some  of  his  contemporaries  satirized 
in  the  play. 

Carlo  tells  Sogliardo  that  Macilente  is  both  a  scholar  and 
a  soldier,  which  was  true  of  Jonson.  Carlo  describes  Macilente 
(I.  i)  as  — 

a  lean  mungrel,  he  looks  as  if  he  were  chop-fallen  with  barking  at  other 
men's  good  fortunes  ;  'ware  how  you  offend  him  ;  he  carries  oil,  and  fire  in 
his  pen,  will  scald  where  it  drops  ;  his  spirit  is  like  powder,  quick,  violent  ; 
he'll  blow  a  man  up  with  a  jest  :  I  fear  him  worse  than  a  rotten  wall  does 
the  cannon  ;  shake  an  hour  after  at  the  report. 

This  passage  may  have  reference  to  the  impression  made  by 
Jonson's  earlier  plays  Every  Man  in  his  Humour  and  The  Case 
is  Altered. 

Deliro  admires  Macilente  and  tells  Fastidious  (II.  2)  that 
Macilente  is  a  scholar  and  travelled,  to  which  Brisk  replies 
"  He  should  get  him  clothes.  .  .  .  An  he  had  good  clothes 
I  'd  carry  him  to  court  with  me  tomorrow."  Allusion  to  Jonson's 
shabby  clothes  is  frequent  throughout  the  plays  concerned  in 
"The  War  of  the  Theatres."  In  the  same  scene  (II.  2) 
Macilente  says  :  "  Would  my  father  had  left  me  but  a  good  face 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  59 

for  my  portion,"  a  reference  to  Jonson's  "rocky  face"  1  ridi- 
culed by  his  enemies. 

When  Macilente,  in  the  presence  of  Fallace  (IV.  i),  makes 
a  speech  about  Fastidious,  "Alas  the  poor  fantastic,  etc.,"  she 
attributes  to  envy  the  hostility  to  Fastidious.  In  IV.  4,  Maci- 
lente says  that  he  was  with  Fastidious  at  court.  Macilente 
poisons  Puntarvolo's  dog  (V.  1),  and  discovers  Fungoso  under 
the  table  (V.  4).  Macilente  is  the  means  of  putting  out  of  his 
humour  every  other  character.  Having  succeeded  in  punish- 
ing almost  all  the  other  characters,  except  Deliro,  who  was  his 
friend,  Macilente  makes  his  final  speech  in  a  style  characteris- 
tic of  Jonson. 

Shift  is  another  version  of  Bobadil.  He  is  the  subject  of 
Epigram  XII.2  and  is  thus  described  in  the  "characters"  :  — 

A  thread-bare  shark  ;  one  that  never  was  a  soldier,  yet  lives  upon  lend- 
ings.  His  profession  is  skeldring  and  odling,  his  bank  Paul's,  and  his  ware- 
house Picthatch.  Takes  up  single  testons  upon  oaths,  till  doomsday.  Falls 
under  executions  of  three  shillings,  and  enters  into  five-groat  bonds.  He 
waylays  the  reports  of  services,  and  cons  them  without  book,  damning  him- 
self he  came  new  from  them,  when  all  the  while  he  was  taking  the  diet  in 
the  bawdy-house,  or  lay  pawned  in  his  chamber  for  rent  and  victuals.  He 
is  of  that  admirable  and  happy  memory,  that  he  will  salute  one  for  an  old 
acquaintance  that  he  never  saw  in  his  life  before.  He  usurps  upon  cheats 
quarrels  and  robberies,  which  he  never  did,  only  to  get  him  a  name.  His 
chief  exercises  are,  taking  the  whiff,  squiring  a  cockatrice,  and  making  privy 
searches  for  imparters. 


1  "  My  mountain  belly  and  my  rocky  face,"  My  Picture  left  in  Scotland.  The 
"mountain  belly"  was  a  later  acquisition,  for  Jonson  is  in  this  play  "lean  Maci- 
lente," and  "a  rank,  raw-boned  Anatomy,"  IV.  4. 

2  Epigram  XII.  says  of  Shift,  "  His  whole  revenue  is,  God  pays."  In  The  Lon- 
don Prodigal,  II.  3,  we  are  told:  — 

But  there  be  some  that  bear  a  soldier's  form 
That  swear  by  him  they  never  think  upon, 
Go  swaggering  up  and  down  from  house  to  house, 
Crying,  God  pays  ail. 


60  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

We  learn  from  the  play  that  Shift  is  a  pimp,  "  the  rarest 
superficies  of  a  humour  ;  he  comes  every  morning  to  empty 
his  lungs  in  Pauls  "  (III.  i).  When  he  first  appears  he  is  about 
to  post,  in  the  middle  aisle  of  Paul's,  two  bills,  in  one  of  which 
he  offers  his  services  as  gentleman-usher  to  any  gentlewoman 
who  may  be  in  need  of  such  an  attendant  ;  in  the  other  he 
offers  his  services  to  a  young  gentleman  as  an  instructor  in  the 
most  "gentlemanlike  use  of  tobacco"  (III.  i).  As  the  result 
of  this  latter  notice,  Shift  becomes  the  instructor  of  Sogliardo. 

Shift  appears  in  the  aisle  of  Paul's  "expostulating  with  his 
rapier,"  which,  he  declares,  has  travelled  with  him  "the  best 
part  of  France  and  the  Low  Country,"  in  Lord  Leicester's  time 
(III.  i).1  Shift's  wonderful  exploits  are  described  by  Sogliardo 
(IV.  4)  but  Puntarvolo  makes  Shift  confess  that  all  his  boasting 
has  been  nothing  but  lies  (V.  3).  Sogliardo,  who  witnesses 
the  humbling  of  Shift,  dismisses  him  with  contempt.2 

Sogliardo  is  described  in  the  "characters"  as — 

an  essential  clown,  brother  to  Sordido,  yet  so  enamoured  of  the  name  of 
a  gentleman  that  he  will  have  it,  though  he  buys  it.  He  comes  up  every 
term  to  learn  to  take  tobacco,  and  see  new  motions.  He  is  in  his  kingdom 
when  he  can  get  himself  into  company  where  he  may  be  well  laughed  at. 

He  is  ridiculed  in  the  play  and  is  introduced  at  court  (V.  2) 
by  Puntarvolo,  who  describes  him  ironically  as  being 

exceedingly  valiant,  an  excellent  scholar,  and  so  exactly  travelled,  that  he 
is  able,  in  discourse,  to  deliver  you  a  model  of  any  prince's  court  in  the 
world ;  speaks  the  languages  with  that  purity  of  phrase,  and  facility  of 
accent,  that  it  breeds  astonishment  ;  his  wit  the  most  exuberant,  and,  above 
wonder,  pleasant,  of  all  that  ever  entered  the  concave  of  this  ear.  .  .  .  But 
that  which  transcends  all,  lady  :  he  doth  so  peerlessly  imitate  any  manner 
of  person  for  gesture,  action,  passion. 


1  Brainworm  makes  similar  boasts  of  military  service,  and  sells  his  rapier  to 
Master  Stephen,  Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  II.  2. 

2  Bobadil  was  humbled  by  Downright,  Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  IV.  5. 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  6 1 

Carlo,  who  is  instructing  Sogliardo  "  in  all  the  rare  qualities, 
humours,  and  compliments  of  a  gentleman  "  (I.  i),  gives  as  the 
first  requisite,  that  Sogliardo  "must  give  over  housekeeping  in 
the  country,  and  live  altogether  in  the  city"  (I.  I).  Sogliardo 
must  have  a  coat  of  arms,  and  Carlo  tells  him  how  to  procure 
one  (I.  i).1  Sogliardo  obtains  a  coat  of  arms  from  the  herald's 
office  at  a  cost  of  thirty  pounds  (III.  i).  His  crest  is  described 
as  "a  boar  without  a  head,  rampant."     Carlo's  comment  is  — 

I  commend  the  herald's  wit,  he  has  deciphered  him  well  :  a  swine  with- 
out ahead,  without  brain,  wit,  anything  indeed,  ramping  to  gentility. 

The  escutcheon  is  — 

( ",  vrony  of  eight  pieces  :  azure  and  gules  ;  between  three  plates,  a  chev- 
ron engrailed  checquy,  or,  vert  and  ermins  ;  on  a  chief  argent,  between 
two  ann'lets  sable,  a  boar's  head,  proper.2 


1  Sogliardo  resembles  in  some  respects  Master  Stephen  in  Every  Man  in  his 
Humour.  Stephen,  like  Sogliardo,  is  a  countryman  who  wishes  to  make  "  a 
blaze  of  gentry  to  the  world."  Stephen  employs  Bobadil  to  teach  him  "  whatso- 
ever is  incident  to  a  gentleman  "  (III.  i).  Sogliardo  and  Stephen  are  both  rich. 
The  former  is  advised  by  Carlo  to  turn  "four  or  five  hundred  acres  "  of  his  best 
land  into  apparel  (I.  i),  while  the  latter  declares,  "I  have  a  very  pretty  living  of 
my  own,  hard  by  here"  (I.  i).  It  may  seem  fanciful,  but  it  is  perhaps  worth 
mentioning  that  Sogliardo  is  called  "that  swine,"  while  Stephen's  abode  was 
I  logs-den. 

-Mr.  Fleay  says  :  "  Sogliardo's  arms,  'on  a  chief  argent  between  two  ann'lets 
sable,  a  boar's  head  proper,'  indicate  Burbadge  [Boar-badge)  ;  badge  (bague)  being 
a  ring,  garland,  or  annulet."  Shakespeare  Manual,  p.  312.  Mr.  Fleay  says  also  : 
"  In  Y.  4,  I  believe  that  'hog'  and  'usurous  cannibals'  refers  to  the  Boar-badges, 
and  that  all  the  allusions  to  swine  in  this  play  do  likewise;  hut  I  do  not  expei  t 
the  reader  to  agree  with  me."  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  361.  Sordido 
is  "  a  Burbadge,  some  country  relative  of  Richard  Burbadge"  {ibid.,  p.  360). 
This  interpretation  of  the  coat  of  arms  is  plausible,  and  were  there  no  other  con- 
siderations, might  be  accepted.  Sordido  and  Sogliardo,  if  Burbadges  at  all,  must 
have  been  relatives  of  Richard  Burbadge.  Neither  of  them  was  Richard  Bur- 
badge. This  play,  like  its  prede<  essor,  was  at  ted  by  the  <  'hamberlain's  men,  and 
Richard  Burbadge,  as  the  folio  informs  us,  took  part  in  both  plays.  It  is  improb- 
able that  Jonson,  who  was  writing  for  the  Chamberlain's  company,  would  have 
satirized,  by  allusions  to  hogs,  swine,  and  boars'  heads,  either  the   man  or   the 


62  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

In  any  attempt  to  identify  Sogliardo  we  must  consider  also 
his  brother,  Sordido,  who  is  described  by  Macilente  (I.  i)  as 
"  Sordido  the  farmer,  a  boor,  and  brother  to  that  swine  [Sogli- 
ardo] was  here."      Sordido's  "character"  is  — 

A  wretched  hob-nailed  chuff,  whose  recreation  is  reading  of  almanacks  ; 
and  felicity,  foul  weather.  One  that  never  prayed  but  for  a  lean  dearth,  and 
ever  wept  in  a  fat  harvest. 

Sordido  is  rich,  but  "  like  a  boisterous  whale,  swallows  the 
poor"  (I.  i).  He  will  not  bring  his  corn  to  market  though 
the  people  starve.  He  is  "  cause  to  the  curse  of  the  poor  " 
(III.  2).  He  hangs  himself  because  "his  prognostication  has 
not  kept  touch  with  him  "  (III.  2),  but  is  cut  down  by  "rustics  " 
whose  curses  upon  him  effect  a  change  in  his  character.  What 
we  are  told  of  Sordido  agrees  in  many  respects  with  what 
we  know  of  Philip  Henslowe,  the  "  old  pawnbroking,  stage- 
managing,  bear-baiting  usurer,"  whose  company  of  actors  was 
at  this  time  the  chief  rival  of  the  Chamberlain's  men.  Hens- 
lowe owned  a  great  deal  of  property  in  Southwark,  where  he 
lived.1  He  might  properly  be  spoken  of  as  a  "boor"  or 
countryman,  for  his  early  years  were  spent  in  the  country.2 

In  connection  with  the  coat  of  arms,  "  boar's  head,"  "swine," 
and  similar  allusions  in  the  play,  it  is  interesting  to  note  the 

relatives  or  the  name  of  the  man  who  was  the  chief  actor  in  the  company,  and  upon 
whom  the  success  of  the  play  so  largely  depended.  No  Burbadges  of  whom  we 
have  any  knowledge  are  in  any  way  to  be  identified  with  Sordido  and  Sogliardo. 

1  In  a  passage  which  probably  refers  to  Henslowe,  Chettle  denounces  landlords 
who  are  harsh  to  poor  tenants.  Kind  Hartes  Dreame.  Shakspere  Allusion- 
Books,  Pt.  I.,  ed.  C.  M.  Ingleby.  New  Shakspere  Society  Publications.  Henslowe 's 
Diary  contains  numerous  entries  recording  payments  of  rent  by  his  tenants. 

2  Henslowe  was  a  native  of  Sussex,  and  was  servant  to  Woodward,  bailiff  to 
Viscount  Montague,  whose  property  included  Battle  Abbey  and  Cowdray,  in 
Sussex,  and  Montague  House  in  Southwark.  Henslowe  settled  in  Southwark  in 
1577,  in  St.  Saviour's  Parish.  See  article  "  Philip  Henslowe,"  by  William  Rendle, 
in  The  Genealogist,  1890  ;  also  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  s.  v.  Philip 
Henslowe. 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUR.  63 

fact  that  Henslowe  owned  the  notorious  as  well  as  famous 
Boar's  Head  tavern  in  Southwark,  1  and  that  his  brother-in-law 
("that  swine  was  here"  ?)  was  Ralph  Hogge,  an  iron-founder 
at  Buxted.  There  may  or  may  not  be  any  significance  in  these 
facts. 

The  language  used  by  Puntarvolo  is  an  object  of  ridicule  in 
the  absurd  scene  (II.  2)  in  which  he  converses  with  his  wife. 
The  language  is  similar  to  that  used  by  Amorphus  in  Cynthia 's 
Revels.  Puntarvolo  is  "a  gentleman  of  exceeding  good 
humour." 

He  loves  dogs  and  hawks  and  his  wife  well  ;  he  has  a  good  riding  face 
and  he  can  sit  a  great  horse  ;  he  will  taint  a  staff  well  at  tilt ;  when  he  is 
mounted  he  looks  like  the  sign  of  the  George. 

He  has  dialogues  and  discourses  between  his  horse,  himself,  and  his  dog.2 

Puntarvolo  intends  to  travel,  and  lays  a  wager  on  his  safe 
return.      He  says  :  — 

I  am  determined  to  put  forth  some  five  thousand  pound,  to  be  paid  me 
five  for  one,  upon  the  return  of  myself  and  wife  and  my  dog,  from  the  Turk's 
court  in  Constantinople.2 

1  We  know  that  Henslowe  owned  the  Boar's  Head  tavern  in  1604  from  the 
following  entry  in  his  diary :  "  The  Bores  Heade  tenantes,  as  foloweth,  begenynge 
at  crystmase  laste,  1604."  HenslowtPs  Diary,  p.  265;  see  also  p.  266.  Henslowe 
owned  much  property  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Boar's  Head  tavern 
as  early  as  1584-85,  and  it  seems  altogether  probable  that  he  owned  the  Boar's 
Head  tavern  either  wholly  or  in  part  as  early  as  1597  or  1598,  although  investiga- 
tion has  failed  to  disclose  any  positive  proof  that  he  did.  W.  H.  Atkins,  Esq., 
Clerk  of  the  Board  of  Works  for  the  St.  Saviour's  district  (to  whom,  as  also  to 
the  Rev.  W.  Thompson,  Rector  of  St.  Saviour's,  the  writer  acknowledges  his  in- 
debtedness for  information  on  this  point)  thus  answers  a  question  concerning  the 
record  of  ownership  of  the  old  tavern:  "You  ask  whether  there  is  an  ..tint  in 
which  deeds  are  registered.  There  is  none  for  Surrey,  but  there  is  a  registry  for 
the  County  of  Middlesex.  If  any  deeds  relating  to  the  inn  are  in  existent  e  they 
are  probably  in  the  hands  of  private  individuals :  but  titles  on  purchase  or  sale- 
are  now,  I  understand,  seldom  traced  back  more  than  thirty  years,  and  this  is 
inimical  to  the  preservation  of  old  deeds." 

»II.  r. 


64  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Puntarvolo  has  travelled  as  far  as  Paris,  and  speaks  French 
and  Italian.  Carlo  describes  Puntarvolo  as  a  "  dull  stiff  knight  " 
who  "  has  a  good  knotty  wit."     He  is,  says  Carlo,  — 

a  good  tough  gentleman ;  he  looks  like  a  shield  of  brawn  at  Shrove-tide, 
out  of  date,  and  ready  to  take  his  leave  ;  or  a  dry  pole  of  ling  upon  Easter- 
eve,  that  has  furnished  the  table  all  Lent,  as  he  has  done  the  city  this  last 
vacation.1 

Puntarvolo  goes  to  court  and  leaves  his  dog  in  the  care  of  a 
groom.  Macilente  poisons  the  dog  (V.  1).  Antagonism  is 
developed  between  Puntarvolo  and  Carlo.  It  is  Puntarvolo 
who  calls  Carlo  "thou  Grand  Scourge  or  Second  Untruss  of 
the  Time  "  (II.  1),  and  who  seals  up  Carlo's  mouth  in  the  tavern 
scene  (V.  4).  Puntarvolo  is  evidently  the  same  person  as 
Amorphus  in  Cynthia  s  Revels.  Anthony  Monday  is  probably 
the  man  ridiculed .  in  these  two  characters,  but  the  proofs  of 
this  will  be  postponed  until  the  facts  concerning  Amorphus 
have  been  set  forth.2 

Deliro,  the  friend  of  Macilente,  is  described  in  the  "charac- 
ters "  as  — 

A  good  doting  citizen,  who,  it  is  thought,  might  be  of  the  Common 
Council  for  his  wealth  ;  a  fellow  sincerely  besotted  on  his  own  wife,  and  so 
rapt  with  a  conceit  of  her  perfections,  that  he  simply  holds  himself  unworthy 
of  her.  And,  in  that  hood-winked  humour  lives  more  like  a  suitor  than  a 
husband  ;  standing  in  as  true  dread  of  her  displeasure,  as  when  he  first 
made  love  to  her.  He  doth  sacrifice  two-pence  in  juniper  to  her  every 
morning  before  she  rises,  and  wakes  her  with  villainous  out-of-tune  music, 
which  she  out  of  her  contempt  (though  not  out  of  her  judgment)  is  sure  to 
dislike. 


iIV.  4. 

2  "  Puntarvolo  with  his  dog  may  be  Sir  John  Harington  (for  the  dog,  see  the 
engraved  title  of  his  Ariosto)."  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  360.  Mr.  Fleay 
suggests  also  that  Puntarvolo  is  the  same  person  as  Amorphus,  and  that  Amor- 
phus is  Barnaby  Rich  (ibid.,x>.  363).  This  identification  is  discussed  below.  Dr. 
Cartwright  thought  that  Puntarvolo  was  a  caricature  of  Lyly.  Shakespeare  and 
Jonson,  Dramatic  versus  11 'if  Com  hats,  p.  16. 


EVERY    MAN    OUT    OF    HIS    HUMOUK.  65 

Deliro  entertains  Macilente  at  his  house  and  promises  to  pro- 
vide Macilente  with  clothes  in  which  to  appear  at  court  with 
Fastidious  (II.  2).  Deliro's  chief  claim  to  distinction  seems  to 
rest  on  his  having  a  shrew  for  a  wife.  He  pays  the  bill  at  the 
tavern  for  Fungoso  (V.  6)  and  finally  discovers  Fallace's  pas- 
sion for  Fastidious  (V.  7).  Macilente  criticises  Fallace,  but 
Deliro  refuses  to  believe  anything  ill  of  her.  She  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Sordido  and  sister  of  Fungoso,  whose  attempts  to  imitate 
Brisk  she  approves  and  aids.  Deliro  has  entered  into  three 
actions  against  Fastidious  (V.  7),  and  holds  mortgages  on  all  the 
lands  of  Fastidious  (IV.  1). 

Deliro  and  Fallace  are  probably  the  same  persons  as  the 
Citizen  and  his  wife  {Cynthia's  Revels),  and  Albius  and  Chloe 
{Poetaster)} 

The  scene  (II.  2)  in  which  Deliro  and  Fallace  display  their 
lack  of  harmony,  and  Fallace  shows  her  fondness  for  Fastidious, 
was  intended  as  personal  satire,  as  is  clearly  indicated  by  the 
comments  of  Mitis  and  Cordatus.  Cordatus  says  of  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  scene  :  — 

Indeed  there  are  a  sort  of  these  narrow-eyed  decypherers,  I  confess,  that 
will  extort  strange  and  abstruse  meanings  out  of  any  subject,  be  it  never  so 
conspicuous  and  innocently  delivered.  But  to  such,  where'er  they  sit  con- 
cealed, let  them  know,  the  author  defies  them  and  their  writing-tables  ;  and 
hopes  no  sound  or  safe  judgment  will  infect  itself  with  their  contagious  com- 
ments, who,  indeed,  come  here  only  to  pervert  and  poison  the  sense  of  what 
they  hear  and  for  nought  else. 

It  has  been  thought  that  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour 
(III.  1)  Jonson  has  introduced  an  allusion  to  Twelfth  Night. 
Mitis  fears  that  objection  will  be  made  to  Jonson's  play  :  — 

That  the  argument  of  his  comedy  might  have  been  of  some  other  nature, 
as  of  a  duke  to  be  in  love  with  a  countess,  and  that  countess  to  be  in  love 

1  Mr.  Fleay  thinks  "Deliro,  possibly  Monday."  Chronicle  of  the  English 
Drama,  I.  360.     No  reason  for  this  conjecture  is  given. 


66  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

with  the  duke's  son,  and  the  son  to  love  the  lady's  waiting  maid  ;  some  such 
cross  wooing  with  a  clown  to  their  serving  man,  better  than  to  be  thus  near 
and  familiarly  allied  to  the  time. 

There  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  date  of  Twelfth  Night} 
but,  even  if  it  could  be  proved  that  it  was  produced  before  Jon- 
son's  play,  the  plot  here  suggested  by  Jonson  is,  as  Gifford  has 
shown,  not  sufficiently  in  accord  with  the  plot  of  Twelfth 
Night  to  make  the  allusion  certain.  The  remark  of  M itis  is 
really  a  reply  to  a  possible  objection  to  Jonson's  characters, 
that  they  were  not  dukes  and  countesses,  but  simply  ordinary 
people  of  the  time.  In  this  regard  the  characters  in  Jonson's 
plays  are  in  contrast  to  those  in  the  plays  of  many  other  Eliza- 
bethan dramatists. 

1  1 600- 1  is  the  date  usually  accepted  by  critics  at  the  present  time. 


V. 

PATIENT    GRISSIL    AND    JACK    DRUM'S    ENTER- 
TAINMENT. 

Four  plays  of  Dekker  have  been  thought  by  critics  to  have 
been  connected  with  the  quarrel  between  Jonson  and  Marston, 
viz.,  The  Shoemaker  s  Holiday,  Old  Fortunatus,  Patient  Grissil, 
and  Satiromastix.  In  regard  to  the  last  there  can  be  no  dif- 
ference of  opinion,  as  it  was  avowedly  a  reply  to  Jonson's 
Satirical  Comedies,  especially  to  Poetaster.  Before  treating 
of  Patient  Grissil  it  is  necessary  to  notice  the  following  state- 
ment concerning  the  first  two  of  the  plays  mentioned  :  — 

...  on  account  of  their  connection  with  the  quarrel  between  Jonson 
and  Dekker  and  Marston  ...  it  may  be  not  out  of  place  to  mention  that 
Dekker's  Shoemakers  Holiday  and  Old  Fortunatus  also  belong  to  the 
series  of  attacks  to  which  Jonson  was  (as  he  tells  us1)  subject  for  three 
years  before  he  made  any  retaliation.'2 

Although  these  plays  contain  personal  satire,  yet  an  exami- 
nation of  them  has  failed  to  reveal  any  attack  on  Jonson. 

Several  mistakes  concerning  Dekker's  connection  with  the 
"  War  "  have  been  mentioned.3  There  is  no  attack  on  Jonson 
in  any  play  of  Dekker's  earlier  than  Satiromastix  (1601),  a 
play  which  Dekker  was  "hired"  by  Jonson's  enemies  to  write. 
If  there  had  been  any  earlier  attack,  Jonson  would  not  have 
failed  to  refer  to  it,  but  would  undoubtedly  have  retaliated  by 
representing  Dekker  in  some  character  in  the  earlier  comedies. 

1  Poetaster,  Apologetical  Dialogue. 

2  Shakespeare  Manual,  F.  G.  1'leay,  p.  277. 
8  Above,  pp.  46,  note,  51,  note. 


68  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

There  is,  however,  no  representation  of  Dekker,  or  allusion  to 
any  play  of  Dekker' s,  in  Jonson's  works  earlier  than  Poetaster 
(1601),  in  which  Dekker  is  represented  as  Demetrius,  who  is 
to  write  a  play  satirizing  Horace  (Jonson).  Dekker  and  Jon- 
son  were  collaborating  at  almost  the  very  time  at  which  Dek- 
ker's  portions  of  The  Shoemaker  s  Holiday  and  Old  Fortunatus 
were  probably  written.1 

Patient  Grissil  was  written  only  in  part  by  Dekker,  the 
other  writers  being  Chettle  and  Haughton,  as  Henslowe's 
entries  show.  It  was  completed  and  acted  early  in  1600,  for 
Henslowe  made  a  payment  on  the  play  as  late  as  Dec.  29, 
1 599, 2  and  on  March  18,  1599  (old  style),  he  paid  forty  shil- 
lings to  stay  the  printing  of  the  play.3 

Emulo,  with  his  absurd  "  gallimaufry  of  language,"  has  been 
thought  by  some  to  be  a  caricature  of  Jonson,  the  duel  between 
Emulo  and  Owen  (III.  2) 4  having  reference  to  Jonson's  duel 
with  Gabriel  Spencer,  and  the  mention  of  laths,  lime,  and  hair 
(II.  1)  being  an  allusion  to  Jonson's  bricklaying.5  Any  one 
who  reads  the  play  carefully  will  see  that   Emulo  resembles 


1  Henslowe  bought  from  Dekker  The  Gentle  Craft  or  The  Shoemaker's  Holiday 
for  three  pounds  on  July  15,  1599  (Henslowe's  Diary,  p.  154).  Payments  for  Old 
Fortunatus  were  made  to  Dekker  by  Henslowe  on  November  9,  24,  and  31  (sic), 
1599  (ibid.,  pp.  159,  160,  161).  During  August  and  September,  1599,  Jonson  was 
collaborating  with  Dekker  in  writing  plays  which  Henslowe  calls  "  pagge  of  pli- 
mothe"  and  "  Robart  the  second,  Kinge  of  Scottes  tragedie  "  (ibid.,  pp.  155,  156). 

2  Payments  for  Patient  Grissil  were  made  on  Oct.  16,  Dec.  19,  26,  28,  29,  1599. 
Henslowe's  Diary,  pp.  96,  158,  162. 

3  ibid.,  p.  167.  The  quarto  has  this  title-page  :  The  Pleasant  Comodie  of  Patient 
Grissil.  As  it  hath  beene  sundrie  times  lately  plaid  by  the  right  honorable  the 
Earle  of  Nottingham  (Lord  high  Admirall)  his  servants.  London.  Imprinted  for 
Henry  Rocket,  and  are  to  be  solde  at  the  long  Shop  under  S.  Mildred's  Church  in 
the  Poultry,  1603. 

4  The  quarto  is  not  divided  into  acts  and  scenes.  The  references  here  are  to 
the  divisions  made  by  Collier  in  the  Shakespeare  Society  reprint  of  the  play. 

5  "  Dekker  avenged  his  friend  [Marston,  who  had  recently  been  satirized  as 
Carlo  Buff  one]  by  introducing  Jonson  as  Emulo,  the  lath,  lime,  and  hair  man  in 
Patient  Grissil."      The  North  British  Review,  July,  1870,  p.  402. 


PATIENT    GRISSIL    AND    JACK    DRUM'S    ENTERTAINMENT.        69 

Jonson  in  no  particular,  and  that  the  laths,  lime,  and  hair  are 
mentioned  because  Emulo's  boot  has  been  called  a  "wall"  to 
"  save  his  shins." 

Mr.  Fleay  has  probably  interpreted  this  character  correctly 
as  a  representation  of  Samuel  Daniel,  who  had  been  satirized 
by  Jonson  as  Fastidious  Brisk.1  Emulo,  like  Fastidious  Brisk, 
is  a  courtier  and  is  characterized  (II.  1)  by  Farneze  as  — 

one  of  those  changeable  silk  gallants,  who,  in  a  very  scurvy  pride,  scorn 
all  scholars  and  read  no  books  but  a  looking-glass,  and  speak  no  language 
but  "sweet  lady"  and  "sweet  signior,"  and  chew  between  their  teeth  ter- 
rible words,  as  though  they  would  conjure,  as  "compliment,"  and  "pro- 
jects," and  "fastidious,"  and  "capricious,"2  and  "misprision,"  and  "the 
sintheresis  of  the  soul "  and  such  like  raise-velvet  terms. 

Jonson  makes  Fastidious  Brisk  use  some  of  the  same  words 
that  are  used  by  Emulo,  and  "the  soul's  synderisis,"  an  expres- 
sion of  Clove's,  is  the  same  as  "the  sintheresis  of  the  soul," 
used  by  Emulo.  The  "fustian"  talked  by  Clove  resembles 
the  "gallimaufry  of  language"  of  Emulo.  Concerning  Clove 
we  are  told  :  — 

He  will  sit  you  a  whole  afternoon  sometimes  in  a  bookseller's  shop, 
reading  the  Greek,  Italian,  and  Spanish,  when  he  understands  not  a  word 
of  either  ;  if  he  had  the  tongues  to  his  suits,  he  were  an  excellent  linguist.3 

Of  Emulo  it  is  said  :  — 

My  brisk  spangled  baby  will  come  into  a  stationer's  shop,  call  for  a 
stool  and  a  cushion,  and  then  asking  for  some  Greek  poet,  to  him  he  falls, 
and  there  he  grumbles  God  knows  what,  but  I  '11  be  sworn  he  knows  not 
so  much  as  one  character  of  the  tongue.4 


1  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I,  97,  note  1. 

2  Fastidious  Brisk  uses  "capriciously,"  Every  A/an  out  of  his  Humour,  II.  1. 
8  Every  Man  out  of  lus  Humour,  III.  1. 

4  II.  1.  The  following  passage  in  Dekker's  Guls  Horne-booke  indicates  that 
Clove  and  Emulo  were  only  following  the  custom  :  "  I  could  now  fetch  you  about 
noone  .  .  .  out  of  your  chamber,  and  carry  you  with  mee  into  Paules  Churchyard  ; 
where  planting  yourself  in  a   Stationers  shop,  many  instructions  are  to  bee  given 


JO  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

"Fastidious"  is  one  of  Emulo's  words,  and  he  is  called  "a 
brisk  spangled  baby."  We  are  thus  reminded  of  Jonson's  rep- 
resentation of  Daniel  as  Fastidious  Brisk.  When  it  is  said 
that  Emulo  will  "  pull  out  a  bundle  of  sonnets,  written,  and 
read  them  to  ladies,"  *  there  is,  perhaps,  an  allusion  to  Daniel's 
Delia. 

The  duel  between  Emulo  and  Owen  described  in  III.  2  is 
similar  to  that  between  Fastidious  Brisk  and  Luculento  de- 
scribed in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  IV.  4,  and  they  may 
have  reference  to  the  same  incident.  It  is  evident  that  Dek- 
ker  had  in  mind  the  passage  in  Jonson's  play.  As  both  duels 
were  about  a  woman  and  as  Emulo  and  Fastidious  Brisk  are 
evidently  the  same  person,  it  is  possible  that  the  woman  may 
have  been  Delia  (Lady  Elizabeth  Carey),  and  Owen  and  Lucu- 
lento may  be  representations  of  Lord  Berkeley  her  husband.2 

Although  no  other  character  in  Patient  Grissil  has  been 
identified,  yet  the  almost  certain  identity  of  Emulo  with 
Daniel  establishes  a  connection  between  this  play  and  others 
concerned  in  "The  War  of  the  Theatres,"  and  may  show  that 
Dekker,  if  at  this  time  involved  in  the  "war,"  was  on  Jonson's 
side,  at  least  so  far  as  to  join  in  the  attack  on  Daniel.  We  do 
not  know  positively  what  parts  of  Patient  Grissil  were  written 
by  Dekker  and  what  by  Chettle  and  Haughton.3  The  play 
was  performed  at  the  Rose  by  the  Admiral's  company. 


you,  what  bookes  to  call  for,  how  to  censure  of  new  bookes,  how  to  mew  at  the 
old,  how  to  looke  in  your  tables  and  inquire  for  such  and  such  Greeke,  French, 
Italian  or  Spanish  authors,  whose  names  you  have  there,  but  whom  your  mother 
for  pitty  would  not  give  you  so  much  wit  as  to  understand."  Dekker,  ed. 
Grosart,  II.  265. 
MI.   1. 

2  See  Mr.  Fleay's  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  86,  272. 

3  Mr.  Fleay  may  be  correct  in  his  conjecture  that  Dekker  "  mainly  wrote  the 
scenes  in  which  Laureo  and  Babulo  (the  characters  not  found  in  the  old  story) 
enter,  and  Chettle  the  Welsh  scenes ;  Haughton  the  remainder,  besides  helping 
Dekker  in  his  part."     Chronicle  0/ the  English  Drama,  I.  271. 


PATIENT    GRISSIL    AND    JACK    DRUMS    ENTERTAINMENT.        "J  \ 

Jack  Drum's  Entertainment ',  or  The  Comedy  of  Pasquil  and 
Katherine  is,  like  Histriomastix,  a  play  which  was  published 
anonymously,  and  is  not  published  among  Marston's  plays  by 
his  editors.  As  in  the  case  of  Histriouiastix,  the  unusual 
vocabulary  employed  indicates  that  Marston  was  the  author.1 
The  fact  that  Jonson,  when  attacking  Marston  as  Crispinus,2 
ridicules  passages  in  Jack  Drum,  is  additional  proof  that  Mar- 
ston wrote  it.  The  play  was  performed  in  1600  ("  't  is  womens 
yeere,"3  or  leap-year)  at  Whitsuntide. 

Marston  probably  refers  to  the  attack  made  on  him  in  the 
"fustian"  conversation  between  Clove  and  Orange,4  when  he 
makes  Planet  say  :  — 

By  the  Lord,  fustian,  now  I  understand  it  :  complement  is  as  much  as 
fustian.5 

The  adventure  of  Monsieur  John  fo  de  King,  the  licentious 
Frenchman,  with  the  wife  of  Brabant  Senior,  corresponds 
almost  exactly  with  the  first  of  the  "accidents  strange"  which 
Jonson  related  to  Drummond.6  It  would  be  remarkable  if, 
with  all  the  bitter  personality  of  these  dramatic  satires,  there 
should  be  no  allusion  to  Jonson's  licentiousness,  and  it  is 
therefore  more  than  likely  that  the  character  of  Monsieur  John 
fo  de  King  is  an  attack  on  Jonson. 

It   is  possible  that   Jonson's  duel  and  narrow  escape  from 


1  Dr.  Brinsley  Nicholson  says,  in  a  note  on  Jack  Drum  (Notes  and  Queries, 
Series  7,  Vol.  VII.  p.  67),  "  I  was  happy  to  hear  from  my  friend  J.  ().  Halliwell- 
Phillipps  .  .  .  that  a  MS.  (circa  1620)  gives  unequivocal  testimony  to  Marston's 
authorship  of  Jack  Drum's  Entertainment." 

2  Poetaster,  V.  1. 

3  I.  1.  The  references  are  to  tin-  play  as  printed  by  Simpson  in  The  School  of 
Shakspere,  II. 

4  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  III.  1. 
6  III.  1.  87. 

6  See  above,  p.  40. 


72  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

hanging  may  be  glanced  at  in  the  words  of  Monsieur  John  fo 
de  King  when  he  is  hired  by  Mammon  to  kill  Pasquil  :  — 

.  .  .  You  see 
Mee  kill  a  man,  you  see  mee  hang  like  de  Bergullian.1 

Attention  has  been  called  2  to  the  necessity  of  revising  the 
punctuation  of  the  passage  in  the  Conversations  with  Drunt- 
mond,  in  which  Jonson  states  that  the  beginning  of  the  quar- 
rel with  Marston  was  that  "  Marston  represented  him  in  the 
stage."  This  statement  could  not  refer  to  Jack  Drum,  for  the 
date  of  that  play  is  1600,  whereas  the  quarrel  was  bitter  in 
1599,  when  Jonson  attacked  Marston's  Histriomastix  and 
Satires,  and  Marston  himself  as  Carlo  Buffone.  It  has  been 
shown  3  that  Histriomastix  is  the  play  containing  the  first  rep- 
resentation of  Jonson  by  Marston.  Jack  Drum  therefore  con- 
tains Marston's  second  representation  of  Jonson.  Although  to 
us  the  character  of  Monsieur  John  fo  de  King  does  not  seem 
to  resemble  Jonson,  yet  stage  "  business  "  and  mimicry  were 
probably  introduced  in  presenting  these  plays,  so  that  to  the 
audience  it  was  perfectly  clear  who  was  represented. 

The  other  characters  in  Jack  Drum  have  been  identified  in 
various  ways.  Simpson  conjectured  that  Brabant  Junior  was 
Marston,4  an  identification  which  seems  probable,  especially  in 
view  of  the  allusion  to  small  legs  as  a  proof  of  gentility. 

Winifride.     Indeed  young  Brabant  is  a  proper  man  ; 

And  yet  his  legs  are  somewhat  of  the  least  ; 
And,  faith,  a  chittie,  well-complexion'd  face ; 
And  yet  it  wants  a  beard ;  a  good  sweet  youth  ; 
And  yet  some  say,  he  hath  a  valiant  breath  ; 
Of  a  good  haire,  but  oh,  his  eyes,  his  eyes  !5 

Simpson   thought    Brabant  Senior  a  caricature   of  Jonson,6 


1  II.  1.  1S0.  "  The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  128. 

2  Above,  p.  40.  5  I.  11.  227-232. 

3  Above,  p.  41.  6  The  School  of  Shakspere,  IT.  130. 


PATIENT    GKISSIL    AND    JACK    DRUM  S    ENTERTAINMENT.        J I 

and  in  this  opinion  Mr.  Bullen  agrees.1  This  identification  is 
based  on  the  following  remarks  of  Planet  to  Brabant  Junior, 
alluding  to  Brabant  Senior  :  — 

Deare  Brabant,  I  doe  hate  these  bumbaste  wits, 

That  are  puft  up  with  arrogant  conceit 

Of  their  owne  worth  ;  as  if  Omnipotence 

Had  hoised  them  to  such  unequal'd  height 

That  they  survai'd  our  spirits  with  an  eye 

Onely  create  to  censure  from  above  ; 

When  good  soules  they  doe  nothing  but  reprove.2 

There  is  no  other  resemblance  between  Brabant  Senior  and 
Jonson,  and  these  lines  are  equally  applicable  to  Hall,  whom 
Mr.  Fleay  has  identified  with  Brabant  Senior,  thus  making  the 
two  Brabants  represent  the  two  satirists,  Hall  and  Marston.3 
The  fact  that  Hall's  satires  appeared  before  Marston's,  and 
that  the  two  satirists  were  associated  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  coupled  with  the  censorious  spirit  of  Brabant  Senior 
and  the  praise  of  Brabant  Junior,  tends  to  prove  Mr.  Fleay's 
identification. 

Sir  Edward  Fortune  has  been  identified  with  Edward  Alleyn, 
who  was  at  that  time  building  the  Fortune  Theatre.  Mammon 
is  a  usurer.  The  passage  in  which  Pasquil  tears  up  the  bonds 
suggests  the  possible  identity  of  Mammon  with  Sordido,  the 
miser  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour.  Both  are  said  to  use 
almanacs  and  are  hated  by  the  people.4 

It  has  been  shown  that  Sordido  is  perhaps  a  representation 
of  Henslowe,5  and  it  is  possible  that  Mammon  may  have  been 
intended  for  the  same  person.     Alleyn  was  the  son-in-law  of 


1  The  Works  of  John  Marston,  ed.  Bullen,  I.  liv. 

2  IV.  11.  316-322. 

3  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  74. 

4  Compare  the  last  scene  of  Act  III.  of  Jack  Drum  with  what  we  are  told  of 
Sordido  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  I.  1  and  III.  2. 

5  Above,  p.  62. 


74  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Henslowe,  but  mjack  Drum  Mammon  is  the  friend,  "  in  hope  " 
the  son-in-law  of  Sir  Edward  Fortune.1 

There  is  a  scene  in  which  Planet  and  the  two  Brabants  criti- 
cise several  poets  :  — 

Brabant  Junior.     Brother,  how  like  you  of  our  moderne  wits? 

How  like  you  the  new  poet  Mellidus? 
Brabant  Senior.     A  slight  bubling  spirit,  a  corke,  a  huske. 
Planet.  How  like  you  Musus  fashion  in  his  carriage? 

Brabant  Senior.     O  filthilie,  he  is  as  blunt  as  Paules. 
Brabant  Junior.     What  thinke  you  of  the  lines  of  Decius? 

Writes  he  not  a  good  cordiall  sappie  stile  ? 
Brabant  Senior.     A  surreinde  jaded  wit,  but  a  rubbes  on. 
Planet.  Brabant,  thou  art  like  a  paire  of  ballance, 

Thou  wayest  all  saving  thy  selfe.2 

The  comments  of  Brabant  Senior  are  in  keeping  with  the 
tone  of  Hall's  Satires.  Mellidus  is  probably  Marston,  who 
had  evidently  written  the  first  part  of  Antonio  and  Mcllida. 
The  fact  that  we  have  in  Jack  Drum  an  allusion  to  Antonio  and 
Mellida,  and  that  in  the  latter  play  there  is  a  reference  to 
Cynthia  s  Revels?  indicates  the  order  in  which  these  three 
plays,  all  of  the  date  1600,  were  performed.  Simpson  conjec- 
tured that  Musus,  "as  blunt  as  Paules,"  was  "either  Chap- 
man, who,  as  Chettle  says,  '  finished  sad  Musaeus'  gracious 
song,'  or  Daniel,  whom  Drayton,  in  Endimion  and  Phosbe, 
1594,  calls  'the  sweet  Musaeus  of  these  times.'  "4  It  is  more 
likely  that  Daniel  was  meant  by  Musus,  for  the  criticism  seems 
to  be  more  applicable  to  him  than  to  Chapman.  Decius  is 
Drayton,  who  is  called  by  that  name  in  an  epigram  by  Sir 
John  Davies.5 

1 1.  1.  74-  2  IV.  11.  37-46. 

3  This  reference  to  Cynthia's  Revels  will  be  discussed  below  in  treating  of 
Antonio  and  Mellida. 

4  The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  131. 

5  In  Idea,  Sonnet  XVIII,  Drayton  speaks  of  his  Mistress  as  a  "tenth"  muse. 
To  this  Sir  John  Davies  refers  in  the  epigram  :  — 


PATIENT    GRISSIL    AND    JACK    DRUM  S    ENTERTAINMENT.       /$ 

Mr.  Fleay  makes  a  number  of  guesses  as  to  the  identity  of 
other  characters  in  the  play.     "  Timothy  Tweedle  seems  very 

like  Antony  Monday,  and  Christopher  Flawn  I  take  to  be 
Christopher  Beeston.  John  Ellis,  with  his  similes,  is  a  gross 
caricature  of  John  Lyly.  .  .  .  Pasquil  is  perhaps  Nicholas 
Breton"1  or  Nashe.  Simpson  remarks  that  "  Planet,  to  whom 
the  sceptre  of  criticism  seems  to  be  tacitly  conceded,  one 
hopes  may  have  been  meant  for  Shakspere."2  There  seems 
to  be  no  positive  proof  of  the  correctness  of  any  of  these 
conjectures. 

In  Decium. 

Audacious  painters  have  nine  worthies  made, 
But  Poet  Decius  more  audacious  farre, 
Making  his  Mistresse  march  with  men  of  warre 
With  title  of  tenth  worthie  doth  her  lade. 

Sir  John  Davies,  ed.  Grosart,  II.  24. 

1  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  74. 

2  The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  131. 


VI. 

CYNTHIA'S    REVELS. 

Merely  as  a  play,  Cynthia  s  Revels  is  perhaps  the  least 
interesting  that  Jonson  wrote,  but  as  a  personal  satire  it  has 
great  interest  on  account  of  its  directness.  The  object  of  the 
play  was  to  satirize  the  same  four  men  that  were  attacked  in 
Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour.  They  are  probably  the  four  to 
whom  Dekker  refers  in  the  following  lines  in  Satiromastix :  — 

I  wonder  then,  that  of  five  hundred,  foure 
Should  all  point  with  their  fingers  in  one  instant 
At  one  and  the  same  man.1 

That  Dekker  was  not  himself  one  of  the  four  is  indicated  (as 
will  be  seen  from  the  context)  by  the  fact  that  it  is  Demetrius 
(Dekker)  who  speaks  the  lines.  We  have  shown  that  in  Every 
Man  out  of  his  Humour  the  men  attacked  were  Marston,  Daniel, 
Lodge,  and  Monday.  In  Cynthia's  Revels  these  men  are  repre- 
sented respectively  as  Anaides,  Hedon,  Asotus,  and  Amorphus  ; 
Crites  is  of  course  Jonson.  The  characters  appear  usually  in 
pairs,  Anaides  and  Hedon,  and  Asotus  and  Amorphus.  These 
two  pairs  are  not  on  good  terms  with  each  other,  but  are  unani- 
mous in  their  dislike  of  Crites.  The  female  characters  may  be 
considered  wholly  allegorical,  but  they  are  none  the  less  satiri- 
cal as  bearing  the  names  of  the  follies  which  characterize 
their  respective  gallants. 


1  The  Dramatic  Works  of  Thomas  Dekker,  now  first  collected  with  illustrative 
notes  and  a  memoir  of  the  author,  published  by  John  Pearson,  London,  1873, 
I.  108. 


CYNTHIA  S    REVELS.  J  J 

Cynthia  s  Revels  has  come  clown  to  us  in  two  forms.  The 
quarto  (1601)  probably  gives  the  play  as  it  was  presented  at 
court,  and  is  much  shorter  than  the  folio  (1616).1 

Anaides  (Marston)  is  closely  associated  with  Hedon  (Daniel) 
throughout  the  play,  and  together  they  plot  against  Crites 
(Jonson).  In  the  Induction  Anaides  is  spoken  of  as  "the  Im- 
pudent, a  gallant."  When  Anaides  first  appears  (II.  1)  he  has 
more  oaths  than  he  "knows  how  to  utter."  Mercury  says 
that  Anaides,  although  not  a  courtier,  — 

.  .  .  has  two  essential  parts  of  the  courtier,  pride  and  ignorance  :  marry, 
the  rest  come  somewhat  after  the  ordinary  gallant.  Tis  Impudence  itself, 
Anaides  :  one  that  speaks' all  that  comes  in  his  cheeks,  and  will  blush  no 
more  than  a  sackbut.  He  lightly  occupies  the  jester's  room  at  the  table,'-  and 
keeps  laughter,  Gelaia,  a  wench  in  page's  attire,  following  him  in  place  of  a 
squire,  whom  he  now  and  then  tickles  with  some  strange  ridiculous  stuff, 
uttered  as  his  land  came  to  him,  by  chance.  He  will  censure  or  discourse 
of  anything,  but  as  absurdly  as  you  would  wish.  His  fashion  is  not  to  take 
knowledge  of  him  that  is  beneath  him  in  clothes.3  He  never  drinks  below 
the  salt.  He  does  naturally  admire  his  wit  that  wears  gold  lace  or  tissue  ; 
stabs  any  man  that  speaks  more  contemptibly  of  the  scholar  than  he.4  He 
is  a  great  proficient  in  all  the  illiberal  sciences,  as  cheating,  drinking,  swag- 
gering, whoring,  and  such  like  :  never  kneels  but  to  pledge  healths,5  nor 

1  The  citizen  and  his  wife  (V.  2)  do  not  appear  in  the  quarto,  and  the  second  of 
the  games,  "A  thing  done  and  who  did  it"  (IV.  1),  is  likewise  not  in  the  quarto. 
The  first  two-thirds  of  the  last  act  appeared  in  print  for  the  first  time  in  the  folio. 
The  play  may  have  been  "  cut  "  for  court  presentation,  giving  us  the  text  as  printed 
in  the  quarto,  or  additions  may  have  been  made  later,  giving  the  text  as  printed  in 
the  folio.  This  play  was  first  acted  by  the  Chapel  children  at  Rlackfriars  theatre 
in  1600.  Jonson  was  no  longer  writing  for  the  Chamberlain's  company,  by  whom 
Every  Man  in  his  Humour  and  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour  were  presented. 

2  Anaides,  "  the  jester,"  is  the  same  man  as  Carlo  Huffone  (the  buffoon)  in  Every 
Man  out  of  his  Humour.     Both  are  Marston  (see  above,  p.  46,  note). 

3  Evidently  referring  to  Marston's  contempt  for  Jonson,  whose  coarse  clothes 
were  often  ridiculed. 

4  The  scholar  was  probably  Jonson. 

6  Mention  was  made  above  (p.  50,  note)  of  the  connection  between  this  state- 
ment and  the  passage  {Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  V.  4)  in  which  Carlo  drinks 
a  health  kneeling.     An  interesting  passage  occurs  in  A  Yorkshire  Tragedy  (I.  1):  — 


78  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

prays  but  for  a  pipe  of  pudding-tobacco.  He  will  blaspheme  in  his  shirt. 
The  oaths  which  he  vomits  at  one  supper  would  maintain  a  town  of  garrison 
in  good  swearing  a  twelvemonth.  One  other  genuine  quality  he  has  which 
crowns  all  these,  and  that  is  this  :  to  a  friend  in  want,  he  will  not  depart 
with  the  weight  of  a  soldered  groat  lest  the  world  might  censure  him  prodi- 
gal, or  report  him  a  gull  :  marry,  to  his  cockatrice,  or  punquetto,  half  a 
dozen  taffata  gowns  or  satin  kirtles  in  a  pair  or  two  of  months,  why  they 
are  nothing. 1 

The  character  here  described  agrees  with  that  of  Carlo 
Buffone.  The  hostility  of  Anaides  and  Hedon  to  Crites  is  set 
forth  at  length  in  a  scene  (III.  2)  which  must  have  displeased 
the  audience,  who  saw  Crites  in  close  consultation  with  Arete 
immediately  after  Anaides  and  Hedon  had  declared  that  they 
would  "undo"  Crites.  Anaides  suggests  (III.  2)  that  they 
get  Crites  "  in,  one  night,  and  make  him  pawn  his  wit  for  a 
supper"  for  the  party,  a  proceeding  which  had  probably  been 
executed  successfully  on  more  than  one  occasion  by  Marston 
and  his  friends,  as  may  perhaps  be  inferred  from  the  title 
"Anaides  of  the  ordinary,"  but  more  directly  from  the  descrip- 
tion of  Carlo  Buffone  as  "  a  good  feast-hound  or  banquet-beagle, 
that  will  scent  you  out  a  supper  some  three  miles  off."  2 

Anaides  tells  Hedon  to  annoy  Crites  by  attacking  his  works, 
and  suggests  the  following  plan  :  — 

Approve  anything  thou  hearest  of  his,  to  the  received  opinion  of  it;  but 
if  it  be  extraordinary,  give  it  from  him  to  some  other  whom  thou  more 
particularly  affect'st  ;  that's  the  way  to  plague  him,  and  he  shall  never  come 


"Sam.  ...  I'll  teach  you  the  finest  humour  to  be  drunk  in  ;  I  learned  it  in 
London  last  week. 

"  Both.    V  faith  ?     Let 's  hear  it. 

"  Sam.  The  bravest  humour !  't  would  do  a  man  good  to  be  drunk  in  it ;  they 
call  it  knighting  in  London,  when  they  drink  upon  their  knees." 

1  Marston  was  attacked  in  this  play  for  licentiousness  ;  and  in  his  next  play,  Jack 
Drum,  produced  probably  immediately  after  this  play  of  Jonson's,  he  retaliated 
by  satirizing  Jonson  for  licentiousness  (see  above,  p.  71). 

"■ "  Character"  of  Carlo  Buffone,  prefixed  to  Every  Alan  out  of  his  Humour. 


CYNTHIA  S    REVELS.  79 

to  defend  himself.  'Slud.  I  '11  give  out  all  he  does  is  dictated  from  other 
men,  and  swear  it  too,  if  thou  'It  have  me,  and  that  I  know  the  time  and 
place  where  he  stole  it.1 

The  suggestion  of  Anaides  probably  indicates  that  this 
mode  of  attack  on  Jonson  had  been  employed  by  his  enemies, 
perhaps  in  reply  to  the  accusations  against  Daniel  made  in  livery 
Man  in  his  Humour  (IV.  i),  where  Master  Mathew  "utters 
nothing  but  stolen  remnants,"  and  filches  "from  the  dead." 
It  is  this  plan  of  Anaides  that  Mr.  Fleay  thinks  "conclusive  as 
to  the  identity  of  Anaides,  ami  therefore  of  Carlo  Buffone,  with 
Demetrius  (Dekker).  '  I  know  the  time  and  place  where  he 
stole  it,'  says  Anaides  ;  'I  know  the  authors  from  whence  he 
has  stole,  and  could  trace  him  too,'  says  Demetrius  "2  {Poet- 
aster V.  i). 

Demetrius  is  certainly  Dekker,  and,  except  the  statement 
just  quoted,  has  nothing  whatever  in  common  with  Anaides 
and  Carlo,  who  are  just  as  certainly  Marston.  We  may  ex- 
plain the  identity  of  the  charges  brought  against  Crites  and 
Horace  by  Anaides  and  Demetrius  as  being  due  to  the  instiga- 
tion of  the  original  of  Anaides  (Marston),  who,  in  the  passage 
under  consideration,  is  represented  as  deliberately  getting 
others,  Hedon  in  this  case,  to  spread  this  accusation.  Deme- 
trius (Dekker)  who  was  "hired"  to  abuse  Horace,  simply 
repeated  a  charge  which  had  become  a  common  means  of 
annoying  Jonson.  The  reply  of  Crites  to  the  suggestion  of 
Anaides,  which  was  overheard,  "  Do  good  Detraction  do,"  is 
perhaps  a  reference  to  Marston's  dedication  of    The  Scourge 


1  III  2.  Perhaps  the  statement  recorded  by  Drummond  may  have  been  inspired 
by  a  similar  charge  made  against  Jonson  :  "  Marston  wrott  his  Father-in-lawes 
preachings,  and  his  Father-in-law  his  Commedies."  Jonson1  s  Conversations  with 
Drummond,  p.  1 6.  Marston  married  a  daughter  of  William  Wilkes,  chaplain 
to  James  I. 

2  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  364.  On  p.  365  Anaides  is  again  identified 
with  Dekker. 


SO  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

of  Villanie  "  To  his  most  esteemed  and  best  beloved  Self." 
The  opening  poem  is  headed,  "  To  Detraction  I  present  my 
Poesie."  In  the  same  speech  (III.  2)  in  which  Crites  calls 
Anaides  "  Detraction,"  we  find  Hedon  and  Anaides  described 
respectively  as  — 

The  one  a  light  voluptuous  reveller, 
The  other,  a  strange  arrogating  puff, 
Both  impudent  and  ignorant  enough. 

Dekker  quotes  these  lines  in  Satiromastix1  as  if  they  referred 
to  Crispinus  (Marston)  and  Demetrius  (Dekker).  As  no  attack 
on  Dekker  had  been  made  in  Cynthia  s  Revels,  he  appro- 
priated to  himself  lines  which  referred  to  another  of  Jonson's 
enemies. 

The  mistress  of  Anaides  is  Moria,  a  relationship  which  indi- 
cates Jonson's  opinion  of  Marston.  In  the  scene  (IV.  1)  in 
which  the  four  mistresses  talk  over  the  merits  of  the  four 
gallants,  Anaides  is  criticised  for  having  a  voice  "  like  the 
opening  of  some  justice's  gate,  or  a  post-boy's  horn  "  ;  his  face 
is  "like  a  sea-monster,"  but  his  worst  fault  seems  to  be  that 
"  he  puts  off  the  calves  of  his  legs,  with  his  stockings  every 
night."  This  is  another  allusion  to  Marston's  small  legs,  the 
sign  of  gentle  birth.  In  the  game  "substantives  and  adjec- 
tives" (IV.  1),  Anaides  gives  as  his  adjective  "white-livered," 
and  explains,  "white-livered  breeches"  by  — 

Why  !  are  not  their  linings  white  ?  besides,  when  they  come  in  swagger- 
ing company,  and  will  pocket  up  anything,  may  they  not  properly  be  said  to 
be  white-livered  ? 

The  unusual  adjective  is  entirely  in  keeping  with  the  general 
style  of  Marston's  vocabulary.  Amorphus  and  Anaides  quarrel 
(IV.  1),  as  Puntarvolo  and  Carlo  did  in  Every  Man  out  of  his 
Humour,  and  Anaides  goes  out  with  the  characteristic  language, 


Tin-  Dramatic  Works  of  Dekker,  I.  195. 


CYNTHIA  S    REVELS.  6  1 

"  I  will  garter  my  hose  with  your  guts."  The  last  word  seems 
to  have  been  a  favorite  with  Marston,  if  we  may  judge  from  his 
frequent  use  of  it  in  his  works. 

Anaides  boasts  (IV.  i)  that  he  has  "put  down"  Crites  "a 
thousand  times  "  and  yet  "  never  talked  with  him  but   twice." 

I  could  never  get  him  to  argue  with  me  but  once  ;  and  then  because  I 
could  not  construe  an  author  I  quoted  at  first  sight,  he  went  away  and 
laughed  at  me. 

This  may  refer  to  some  actual  incident,  for  we  know  of  Jon- 
son's  pedantry,  and  of  his  contempt  for  all  who  were  not 
familiar  with  the  classics.  Anaides  tells  Amorphus  (V.  2)  to 
"disgrace  this  fellow  [Crites]  in  the  black  stuff."  "  He  is  a 
scholar  besides.  You  may  disgrace  him  here  with  authority." 
As  Amorphus  is  Anthony  Monday,  probably  at  this  time 
pageant-poet,1  there  may  be  some  significance  in  the  fact  that 
Anaides  tries  to  get  him  to  disgrace  Crites.  Throughout  the 
play  the  sole  object  of  Anaides  is  to  injure  Crites.  In  the 
character  we  have  Jonson's  second  representation  of  Marston. 
This  is  proved  by  the  close  resemblance  of  Anaides  to  Carlo 
Buffone,  and  by  the  fact  that  in  Satiromastix  Dekker  quotes, 
as  referring  to  Crispinus  (Marston),  lines  in  Cynthia  s  Revels 
which  refer  to  Anaides. 

In  Hedon  we  have  Jonson's  third  representation  of  Daniel, 
who  appeared  in  the  previous  plays  as  Master  Mathew  and 
Fastidious  Brisk.  Hedon  is  "  a  gallant  wholly  consecrated  to 
his  pleasures,"  as  may  be  inferred  also  from  the  name  of  his 
mistress,  Madam  Philautia. 

He  doth  .  .  .  keep  a  barber  and  a  monkey  ;  he  has  a  rich  wrought 
waistcoat  to  entertain  his  visitants  in,  with  a  cap  almost  suitable.  His  cur- 
tains and  bedding  are  thought,  to  be  his  own  :  his  bathing-tub  is  not  sus- 
pected. He  loves  to  have  a  fencer,  a  pedant,  and  a  musician  seen  in  his 
lodging  a-mornings.  .  .  .     Himself  is  a  rhymer,  and  that 's  thought  better 

1  See  above,  p.  38. 


82  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

than  a  poet.  ...  He  is  thought  a  very  necessary  perfume  for  the  presence, 
and  for  that  only  cause  welcome  thither  :  six  milliner's  shops  afford  you  not 
the  like  scent.  He  courts  ladies  with  how  many  great  horse  he  hath  rid  that 
morning,  or  how  oft  he  hath  done  the  whole  or  half  the  pommado  in  a 
seven-night  before.1 

The  last  statement  reminds  us  of  the  boasts  of  Fastidious  Brisk 
about  his  horses  and  riding.2 

Jonson  seems  never  to  have  lost  an  opportunity  to  attack 
Daniel,  and  in  the  Epistle  to  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Rutland, 
refers  to  him  as  a  "verser,"  or  "poet,  in  the  court  account." 
He  told  Drummond  that  Daniel  was  "no  poet."3  When 
Hedon  and  Anaides  appear  (II.  i),  Hedon  is  rejoicing  because 
he  has  invented  two  new  "courtier-like"  oaths,  "By  the  tip 
of  your  ear,  sweet  lady  "  and  "  By  the  white  valley  that  lies 
between  the  alpine  hills  of  your  bosom."  He  is  devoted  to 
Philautia,  whom  he  calls  his  "Honour,"  while  she  styles  him 
her  "  Ambition  "  (IV.  i).4  Of  course  the  ambition  of  Philautia 
(self-love)  is  Hedon  (pleasure).  There  is  much  of  this  play 
upon  the  meanings  of  the  names  of  the  characters.  Daniel 
was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  many  noble  ladies,  a  fact  which 
was  alluded  to  in  treating  of  Fastidious  Brisk,5  and  it  is  per- 
haps in  allusion  to  Daniel's  verses  to  ladies  that  Asotus  says 
(III.  i)  that  he  has  "  heard  Hedon  spoke  to  for  some  "  (verses). 

in.  i. 

2  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  II.  i.  In  the  "Character,"  prefixed  to  the 
play,  it  is  said  that  Fastidious  Brisk  "  will  borrow  another  man's  horse  to  praise, 
and  backs  him  as  his  own." 

*  Jonson's  Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  2. 

4  "  Ambition  "  and  "  Honour  "  may  perhaps  be  allusions,  the  force  of  which  is 
lost  upon  us,  to  several  uses  of  the  words  in  the  sonnets  to  Delia  ;  such  as 
"ambition-reared  walls,"  Sonnet  XLII. ;  "ambitious  thoughts,"  Sonnet  XII.; 
"unambitious  muse,"  Sonnet  LV.  ;  "honour"  is  used  in  Sonnets  XIX.,  L.,  and 
LV.  There  may  be  some  hidden  significance  in  the  word  "  barbarous,"  given  by 
Hedon  in  the  game  "substantives  and  adjectives"  (IV.  1).  Daniel  uses  the 
word  in  Sonnet  XLII.,  "  barb'rous  hand." 

6  See  above,  p.  54. 


Cynthia's  revels.  S3 

Philautia  says  (IV.  1),  "I  should  be  some  Laura  or  some 
Delia."  Mr.  Fleay  has  noticed  ]  this  evident  allusion  to  Son- 
net X  LI  1 1.2  to  Delia,  in  which  Daniel  says  of  Delia  — 

Though  thou,  a  Laura,  hast  no  Petrarch  found, 
and  also  in  the  same  sonnet  — 

For  though  that  Laura  better  limned  be. 

Delia  is  referred  to  again  when  Crites  says  to  Hedon  (V.  2)  :  — 

Nay,  stay,  my  dear  Ambition.  I  can  do  you  over  too.  You  that  tell 
your  mistress,  her  beauty  is  all  composed  of  theft  ;  her  hair  stole  from 
Apollo's  goldy-locks  ;  her  white  and  red,  lilies  and  roses  stolen  out  of  Para- 
dise ;  her  eyes  two  stars,  plucked  from  the  sky ;  her  nose  the  gnomon  of 
Love's  dial,  that  tells  you  how  the  clock  of  your  heart  goes  ;  and  for  her 
other  parts,  as  you  cannot  reckon  them,  they  are  so  many  ;  so  you  cannot 
recount  them,  they  are  so  manifest.3 

Sonnet  XIX.  to  Delia  is  as  follows  :  — 

Restore  thy  tresses  to  the  golden  Ore, 

Veeld  Cithereas  sonne  those  Arkes  of  love  ; 

Bequeath  the  heavens  the  starres  that  I  adore, 

And  to  th'  Orient  do  thy  Pearles  remove, 

Yeeld  thy  hands  pride  unto  th'  Ivory  white, 

T'  Arabian  odors  give  thy  breathing  sweete  : 

Restore  thy  blush  unto  Aurora  bright, 

To  Thetis  give  the  honour  of  thy  feete. 

Let  Venus  have  thy  graces,  her  resign'd, 

And  thy  sweet  voice  give  back  unto  the  Spheares  : 

But  yet  restore  thy  fierce  and  cruell  mind, 

To  Hyrcan  Tygres,  and  to  ruthles  Beares. 

Yeeld  to  the  Marble  thy  hard  hart  againe  ; 

So  shalt  thou  cease  to  plague,  and  I  to  paine.4 


1  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  96.  -Daniel,  ed.  Grosart,  I.  65. 

8  Perhaps  the  point  of  the  criticism  is  that  the  beauties  are  stolen.  Jonson 
accused  Daniel  of  plagiarism  when  he  drew  the  character  of  Master  Mathew,  who 
uttered  "nothing  but  stolen  remnants"  (see  above,  p.  27).  The  whole  passage 
is  a  criticism  on  Italianate  poetry,  in  which  such  comparisons  were  common,  and 
lines  almost  precisely  similar  to  the  sonnet  of  Daniel  might  be  cited  from  the  works 
of  other  authors  of  the  time.  4  Daniel,  ed.  Grosart,  I.  49. 


84  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Daniel's  position  as  a  court  poet  is  alluded  to  (III.  i)  when 
Asotus  says  to  Amorphus,  who  was  instructing  him  in  court 
ways,  "  How  if  they  would  have  me  to  make  verses  ?  I  heard 
Hedon  spoke  to  for  some." 

Hedon  sings  to  his  mistress  (IV.  i)  a  song  entitled  "The 
Kiss,"  and  says  :  "  I  made  this  ditty  and  the  note  to  it,  upon 
a  kiss  that  my  Honour  gave  me."  Amorphus  criticises  the 
song,  and  speaks  of  the  "  long  die-note"  as  being  "too  long." 
One  of  the  constant  boasts  of  Fastidious  Brisk  is  that  he  had 
kissed  the  hand  of  a  countess.  When  Hedon  speaks  a  few 
words  of  Italian  (V.  2),  we  have  perhaps  an  allusion  to  the  fact 
that  both  Hedon  (Daniel)  and  Amorphus  (Monday)  had  traveled 
in  Italy.1  In  III.  2,  Anaides  addresses  Hedon  as  "  my  dear 
Envy."  Poetaster  opens  with  Envy  arising  in  the  middle  of 
the  stage  and  making  a  speech  against  the  author.  These  two 
facts  have  been  connected,  and  it  has  been  thought  that  per- 
haps Daniel  was  meant  by  the  Envy  Prologue  to  Poetaster? 

1  Sonnet  LII.  to  Delia  is  entitled  "  At  the  Author's  Going  into  Italy,"  Daniel, 
ed.  Grosart,  I.  71.  Monday  has  left  an  account  of  his  travels  in  Italy  in  his 
E)iglish  Romayne  Life  (1582). 

2  There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  Daniel  was  the  man  represented  in 
the  character  of  Hedon.  There  are,  however,  critics  who  hold  a  different  opinion 
concerning  Hedon.  Mr.  C.  H.  Herford  says:  "It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
Hedon,  '  the  light  voluptuous  reveller '  in  Cynthia's  Revels,  is  Marston,  but  the 
character,  like  that  of  his  companion,  Anaides,  is  to  our  eyes  kept  studiously  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  abstract  and  typical  satire  by  which  no  man's  withers  are  wrung. 
The  portrait  was,  nevertheless,  sufficiently  accurate  to  be  fiercely  resented,  and 
Marston  and  his  crew  prepared  an  elaborate  revenge."  Ben  Jonsott,  ed.  Brinsley 
Nicholson,  Mermaid  Series,  Introductory  Essay  by  C.  H.  Herford,  p.  xxix. 
No  comment  is  necessary,  for  we  have  shown  that  Anaides  is  Marston  and  Hedon 
is  Daniel.  It  seems  somewhat  of  a  contradiction  when  a  critic  describes  a  charac- 
ter as  "  abstract  and  typical  satire  by  which  no  man's  withers  are  wrung,"  and  pro- 
ceeds in  the  next  sentence  to  say  that  the  character  was  "  sufficiently  accurate  to  be 
fiercely  resented."  Jonson's  characters,  when  satirical,  are  both  concrete  and  per- 
sonal, as  is  shown  by  the  antagonism  which  they  excited.  Mr.  Herford  makes  the 
following  statement,  which  seems  at  variance  with  his  opinions  quoted  above  :  "  Of 
his  enmities  The  Poetaster  remained,  so  far  as  we  have  certain  evidence,  the  last, 
as  it  was  the  first,  direct  dramatic  expression"  (ibid.,  p.  liii).     The  common  mis- 


cynthia's  revels.  85 

Asotus  is  described  by  Hedon  (IV.  1)  as  "some  idle  Fun- 
goso  that  hath  got  above  the  cupboard  since  yesterday."  This 
identifies  Asotus  with  Fungoso  in  livery  Man  out  of  Ins  Humour 
and  therefore  with  Lodge.1  Asotus  is  described  in  the  Induc- 
tion as  — 

a  citizen's  heir,  Asotus,  or  the  Prodigal,  who,  in  imitation  of  the  traveller 
[Amorphus],  who  hath  the  Whetstone  [Cos]  following  him,  entertains  the 
Beggar  [Prosaites],  to  be  his  attendant. 

Amorphus,  when  about  to  meet  Asotus,  is  in  doubt  how  to 
address  him,  whether 

to  talk  of  some  hospital  whose  walls  record  his  father  a  benefactor?  or  of 
so  many  buckets  bestowed  on  his  parish  church  in  his  life  time,  with  his 
name  at  length,  for  want  of  arms,  trickt  upon  them  ?  any  of  these.  Or  to 
praise  the  cleanness  of  the  street  wherein  he  dwelt?  or  the  provident  paint- 
ing of  his  posts,  against  he  should  have  been  praetor?  or  leaving  his  parent. 
come  to  some  special  ornament  about  himself,  as  his  rapier,  or  some  other 
of  his  accoutrements  ? 2 

These  references  to  the  father  of  Asotus  agree  substantially 
with  the  facts  concerning  Sir  Thomas  Lodge,  the  father  of  the 
poet.  Sir  Thomas  Lodge  was  a  wealthy  grocer  who  was 
alderman  of  Cheap  Ward  in  1553,  sheriff  in  1556,  and  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  in  1 563,  —  a  fact  to  which  Jonson  alludes, 
when  he  tells  us  that  Philargyrus,  the  father  of  Asotus, 
"was    to    have    been    praetor    next    year."       He    left    in    his 

take  concerning  Dekker  is  made  by  Mr.  Herford  when  he  says  :  "  It  is  certain  that 
both  Dekker  and  Marston  were  portrayed  in  the  Hedon  and  Anaides  of  Cynthia's 
Revels."  The  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  XXX.  1S2.  Dr.  Cartwright 
identifies  Hedon  with  Marston  and  Anaides  with  Dekker,  Shakespeare  and fonson, 
Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats,  p.  17.  Simpson  states  that  Cynthia's  Revet  was 
"  written  against  Marston  and  Dekker,  who  figure  in  it  as  Hedon  and  Anaides." 
The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  129.  Mr.  Bullen  says  "It  is  certain  that  [in  the 
characters  of  Anaides  and  Hedon]  Jonson  was  glancing  particularly  at  Marston 
and  Dekker."     Marston,  I.  p.  xxxiii. 

1  See  above,  p.  56,  for  the  identification  of  Fungoso  with  Lodge. 

2  I.  1. 


86  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

will  five  pounds  for  the  poor  in  Westham,  Essex.1  The 
"painting  of  his  posts"  has  reference  to  the  fact  that  Lodge's 
father  was  sheriff.2  The  passage  in  which  Asotus  is  de- 
scribed by  Mercury  contains  the  description  of  Amorphus 
also.  As  they  are  closely  associated,  the  whole  passage  is 
given  here.     Mercury  says  :  — 

A  notable  smelt.  One  that  hath  newly  entertained  the  beggar  [Prosaites] 
to  follow  him,  but  cannot  get  him  to  wait  near  enough.  Tis  Asotus,  the 
heir  of  Philargyrus  ;  but  first  I  '11  give  ye  the  other's  character,  which  may 
make  his  the  clearer.  He  that  is  with  him  is  Amorphus,  a  traveller,  one  so 
made  out  of  the  mixture  of  shreds  of  forms  that  himself  is  truly  deformed. 
He  walks  most  commonly  with  a  clove  or  pick-tooth  in  his  mouth,  he  is  the 
very  mint  of  compliment,  all  his  behaviours  are  printed,  his  face  is  another 
volume  of  essays,  and  his  beard  is  an  Aristarchus.  He  speaks  all  cream 
skimmed,  and  more  affected  than  a  dozen  waiting-women.  He  is  his  own 
promoter  in  every  place.  The  wife  of  the  ordinary  gives  him  his  diet  to 
maintain  her  table  in  discourse  ;  which  indeed  is  a  mere  tyranny  over  her 
other  guests,  for  he  will  usurp  all  the  talk  :  ten  constables  are  not  so  tedious. 
He  is  no  great  shifter  ;  once  a  year  his  apparel  is  ready  to  revolt.  He 
doth  use  much  to  arbitrate  quarrels,  and  fights  himself,  exceeding  well, 
out  at  a  window.  He  will  lie  cheaper  than  any  beggar,  and  louder  than 
most  clocks :  for  which  he  is  right  properly  accommodated  to  the  Whet- 
stone, his  page.  The  other  gallant  is  his  zany,  and  doth  most  of  these  tricks 
after  him  ;  sweats  to  imitate  him  in  everything  to  a  hair,  except  a  beard, 
which  is  not  yet  extant.  He  doth  learn  to  make  strange  sauces,  to  eat 
anchovies,  maccaroni,  bovoli,  fagioli,  and  caviare,  because  he  loves  them  ; 
speaks  as  he  speaks,  looks,  walks,  goes  so  in  clothes  and  fashion  ;  is  in  all 
as  if  he  were  moulded  of  him.  Marry,  before  they  met,  he  had  other  very 
pretty  sufficiencies,  which  yet  he  retains  some  light  impression  of  ;  as  fre- 
quenting a  dancing  school,  and  grievously  torturing  strangers  with  inquisi- 
tion after  his  grace  in  his  galliard.  He  buys  a  fresh  acquaintance  at  any 
rate.      His  eyes  and  his  raiment  confer  much   together  as  he  goes  in  the 


1  The  facts  concerning  Sir  Thomas  Lodge  are  given  by  Mr.  Charles  Welch  in 
The  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  XXXIV.  59. 

-  At  the  door  of  the  sheriff's  house  were  posts  on  which  proclamations  were 
"posted."  In  Twelfth  Night  (I.  5)  Malvolio  says  of  Viola,  "he'll  stand  at  your 
door  like  a  sheriff's  post." 


cynthia's  revels.  87 

street.  He  treads  nicely,  like  the  fellow  that  walks  upon  ropes,  especially 
the  first  Sunday  of  his  silk  stockings  ;  and  when  he  is  most  neat  and  new. 
you  shall  strip  him  with  commendations.1 

The  tailor's  bill,  which  was  made  so  prominent  in  the  career 
of  Fungoso2  is  not  referred  to  in  connection  with  Asotus,  unless, 
indeed,  it  is  glanced  at  in  several  passages,  as  when  Asotus  is 
said  (IV.  1)  to  "  look  like  a  tailor  .  .  .  that  hath  saved  on  one 
of  his  customer's  suits." 

In  the  relations  of  Argurion  to  Asotus  we  have  a  delightfully 
satirical  account  of  the  fortunes  of  Lodge,  whose  father  was  a 
very  wealthy  man,3 — a  fact  which  makes  significant  the  name 
assigned  him,  Philargyrus,  and  also  the  advice  given  to  Asotus 
by  Amorphus  :  — 

That  was  your  father's  love,  the  nymph  Argurion.  I  would  have  you 
direct  all  your  courtship  thither  ;  if  you  could  but  endear  yourself  to  her 
affection,  you  were  eternally  engallanted.4 

It  is  quite  evident  from  this  that  Lodge  was  not  rich,  a  fact 
which  we  know  from  other  sources,  for  his  father  makes  no 
mention  of  his  son  Thomas  in  his  will,  and  the  poet  speaks  of 
himself  as  "  poor  to  the  world."  5  Argurion  is  enamoured  of 
Asotus,  and  gives  him  jewels  (IV.  1)  which  he  afterwards  gives 
to  Hedon.  When  Argurion  sees  that  Asotus  is  false  to  her 
(IV.  1)  she  faints,  and  is  carried  out  by  Morus  and  Asotus, 


1  II.  1.  The  description  of  Asotus  is  in  accord  with  the  characterization  of 
Lodge  by  Gosson,  who  speaks  of  "  one  in  wit  simple;  in  learning  ignorant;  in 
attempt  rash  ;  in  name  Lodge."    Plays  Confuted  in  Five  Actions. 

2  See  above,  p.  56. 

3  Sir  Thomas  Lodge,  in  1553,  received  a  sum  of  £15,426,  paid  to  him  and  other 
merchants  in  consideration  of  money  advanced  by  them  to  the  Queen  [State 
Papers,  For.  Ser.,  1553-58,  p.  30).  He  became  surety  for  redeeming  Sir  Henry 
Palmer,  prisoner  in  France,  and  seems  to  have  been  able  by  his  wealth  to  aid  the 
Queen  in  many  ways. 

4  IV.  1. 

5  Pkillis  Honoured  with  Pastoral  Sonnets,  Sonnet  XL.,  Hunterian  Club  Reprint, 
P'  57- 


88  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

while  Mercury  remarks  :  "  Well,  I  doubt  all  the  physic  he  has 
will  scarce  recover  her;  she's  too  far  spent."  The  play  on 
the  word  "  Argurion  "  is  clear.  We  have  here  another  allusion 
to  the  career  of  Lodge,  who,  after  engaging  in  various  pursuits, 
began  the  study  of  medicine  in  1596,  and  was  granted  the 
degree  Doctor  of  Physic,  at  Avignon,  in  1600.1  Lodge's  later 
books  bear  on  the  title-page  his  name,  with  the  title,  "  Doctor 
of  Physic."  The  remark  of  Mercury  means  that  Lodge's 
knowledge  of  medicine  will  never  bring  him  money.  Two 
more  descriptions  of  Asotus  are  given.  One  by  Argurion 
(IV.  1)  represents  him  as  "a  most  delicate  youth  ;  a  sweet 
face,  a  straight  body,  a  well-proportioned  leg  and  foot,  a  white 
hand,  a  tender  voice."  To  this  Philautia  and  Phantaste  add 
comments  concerning  his  nose,  hair,  and  eyes,  and  say  that  "he 
would  have  made  a  most  neat  barber-surgeon."  The  other 
description  is  where  Crites,  after  the  absurd  challenge  has  been 
issued  by  Amorphus  and  Asotus  (V.  2)  says  to  Mercury  :  — 

Sir,  this  [Asotus]  is  the  wight  of  worth  that  dares  you  to  the  encounter. 
A  gentleman  of  so  pleasing  and  ridiculous  a  carriage  ;  as  even  standing, 
carries  meat  in  the  mouth,  you  see  ;  and,  I  assure  you,  although  no  bred 
courtling,  yet  a  most  particular  man,  of  goodly  havings,  well  fashioned 
'haviour,  and  of  as  hardened  and  excellent  a  bark  as  the  most  naturally 
qualified  amongst  them,  informed,  reformed,  and  transformed  from  his 
original  citycism. 

In  the  challenge  (V.  2)  Asotus  is  called  Acolastus  Polyprag- 
mon2  Asotus  (Unwhipped3  Jack-of-all-trades  Prodigal),  a  name 
peculiarly  fittting  to  Lodge,  whose  various  professions  have 
been  alluded  to.  We  do  not  know  the  cause  of  Jonson's  hos- 
tility to  Lodge.     It  seems  that  Jonson  intended  to  make  the 


1  See  Mr.  Sidney  Lee's  account  of  Lodge's  life  in  The  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography,  XXXIV.  60. 

2  Tro\inrpdyiJ.wi>  generally  means  "  a  busybody."     The  translation  "  Jack-of-all- 
trades  "  seems  more  appropriate  here. 

3  cf.  Shakespeare's  use  of  the  word  "unwhipped."     Lear,  III.  2,  53. 


cynthia's  revels.  89 

identification  of  Asotus  certain,  for  when  Phantaste  calls 
Asotus  "  our  gold-finch,"  we  have  probably  an  allusion  to  the 
name  "  Golde,"  by  which  Lodge  anagrammatically  calls  himself 
in  a  pastoral  dialogue  addressed  to  Rowland  (Drayton)  in  A 
FigforMomus,  1595.1 

"This  silent  gentleman,"  Asotus  (IV.  1),  is  the  same  as 
Fungoso,  "  Kinsman  to  Justice  Silence,"  in  Every  Man  out  of 
his  Humour  (V.  2).2     When  Asotus  says  (V.  2) — 

As  buckets  are  put  down  into  a  well, 
Or  as  a  schoolboy  .  .  . 

he  is  interrupted  by  Crites  with  the  exclamation  — 

Truss  up  your  simile,  Jackaw  ! 

The  editors  of  Jonson  have  not  noted  that  this  is  a  criticism  of 
an  epigram  by  Sir  John  Davies.3 

Asotus  is  brother  of  the  citizen's  wife  (V.  2).  The  citizen 
and  his  wife  are  the  same  persons  as  Deliro  and  Fallace  in 
Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  and  as  Albius  and  Chloe  in 
Poetaster.     Fungoso  is  brother  of  Fallace. 

The  character  of  Amorphus  as  described  by  Mercury  has 
been  quoted  above.  We  learn  further  concerning  him,  that  he 
is  a  great  traveller,  and  has  been  to  Italy ;  speaks  Spanish  and 
Italian  (I.  1).     Amorphus  says  of  himself  :  — 

1  A  Fig  for  Momus,  Eclogue  3,  Hunterian  Club  Reprint,  p.  23. 

2  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  Fleay,  I.  364. 

XXIX.     In  Haywodum. 

Haywood  which  did  in  epigrams  excell 
Is  now  put  down  since  my  light  muse  arose, 
As  buckets  are  put  down  into  a  well, 
Or  as  a  schoolboy  putteth  down  his  hose. 

Sir  John  Davies,  ed.  Grosart,  II.  29. 

This  epigram  is  thus  alluded  to  by  Sir  John  Ilarington  in  Metamorphosis  of 
A/ax,  1  596  :  "  Haywood  for  his  proverbs  and  epigrams  is  not  yet  put  down  by  any 
of  our  country,  though  one  doth  indeed  come  near  him,  that  graces  him  the  more 
in  saying  he  puts  him  down." 


90  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

But,  knowing  myself  an  essence  so  sublimated  and  refined  by  travel ;  of 
so  studied  and  well-exercised  a  gesture  ;  so  alone  in  fashion  ;  able  to  render 
the  face  of  any  statesman  living  ; 1  and  to  speak  the  mere  extraction  of 
language  ;  one  that  hath  now  made  the  sixth  return  upon  venture  ; 2  and 
was  your  first  that  ever  enriched  his  country  with  the  true  laws  of  the 
duello  ; 3  whose  optics  have  drunk  the  spirit  of  beauty  in  some  eightscore 
and  eighteen  princes'  courts  where  1  have  resided,  and  been  there  fortunate 
in  the  amours  of  three  hundred  forty  and  five  ladies,  all  nobly,  if  not  princely, 
descended  ;  whose  names  I  have  in  catalogue. 

Amorphus  is  fond  of  using  foreign  phrases  and  of  boasting 
of  his  travels.  He  is  the  teacher  of  Asotus  in  those  things  that 
pertain  to  courtier-like  conduct.  The  absurd  language  of  court- 
ship, which  Amorphus  teaches  Asotus  to  use  (III.  3),  is  similar 
to  that  employed  by  Puntarvolo  in  Every  Mail  out  of  his 
Humour-  (II.  1).    Phantaste  says  that  "  the  traveller  Amorphus  " 


1  It  will  be  shown  that  Amorphus  is  probably  Anthony  Monday,  who  was  an 
actor  as  well  as  a  playwright.  It  is  probable  that  this  passage  alludes  to  the  ability 
of  Monday  to  imitate  on  the  stage  the  appearance  and  actions  of  other  people. 
Amorphus  gives  an  exhibition  of  his  powers  of  imitation  in  Act  II.  Sc.  1.  It  was 
a  common  thing  in  plays  thus  to  amuse  the  spectators.  Cf.  The  Return  from 
Parnassus,  IV.  3,  where  Kemp  gives  such  an  exhibition. 

2  Amorphus  is  the  same  man  as  Puntarvolo  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour. 
Cf.  Puntarvolo's  proposed  trip  to  Constantinople  "  upon  venture." 

3  Mr.  Fleay  says :  "  Amorphus,  the  Deformed  Traveller,  who  '  enriched  his 
country  with  the  true  laws  of  the  duello'  (I.  1),  must  have  been  the  translator  of 
Saviolo's  Practise,  S.  R.  1594,  Nov.  19.  I  think  Barnaby  Rich  is  the  man." 
Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  363.  Mr.  Fleay  is  probably  right  in  the  first 
statement.  We  do  not  know  what  reasons  he  has  for  the  second  regarding  the 
identity  of  the  translator.  If  Saviolo's  Practise  is  referred  to  in  the  passage  under 
consideration,  it  is  possible  that  Jonson's  play  may  enable  us  to  determine  the 
identity  of  the  hitherto  unknown  translator.  There  is  almost  conclusive  evidence 
that  Amorphus  is  Anthony  Monday,  and  an  examination  of  the  works  of  Monday, 
who  translated  many  books  from  Italian,  French,  and  Spanish,  shows  that  the 
translation  of  Saviolo's  Practise  would  have  been  entirely  in  accord  with  what  we 
know  him  to  have  done.  There  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  Jonson  had  any 
quarrel  with  Barnaby  Rich,  or  cause  to  satirize  him,  as  must  have  been  the  case  if 
he  is  represented  as  Amorphus.  There  is  no  evidence  whatever  that  Barnaby  Rich 
translated  Saviolo.  No  translator  is  named  on  the  title-page  of  Saviolo's  Practise, 
printed  by  John  Wolfe,  London,  1 595,  quarto. 


CYNTHIA  s    REVELS.  QI 

is  the  "  properest "  of  the  gallants,  and  Philautia  says  that  he 
"looks  like  a  Venetian  trumpeter  in  the  battle  of  Lepanto, 
in  the  gallery  yonder  ;  and  speaks  to  the  tune  of  a  country 
lady,  that  comes  ever  in  the  rearward  or  train  of  a  fashion." 
When  Mercury  says  (II.  i ),  "Amorphus,  a  traveller,  one  so 
made  out  of  the  mixture  of  shreds  of  forms,  that  himself  is 
truly  deformed,"  the  interpretation  may  be  found,  perhaps,  in 
the  following  statement  of  Antonio  Balladino  (Anthony  Mon- 
day):  "Why,  I'll  tell  you,  Master  Onion,  I  do  use  as  much 
stale  stuff,  though  I  say  it  myself,  as  any  man  does  in  that 
kind,  I  am  sure.  Did  you  see  the  last  pageant  I  set  forth  ?  "  1 
In  the  game  "substantives  and  adjectives"  (IV.  i),  the  ad- 
jective suggested  by  Amorphus  is  "  pythagorical,"  which  is 
one  of  the  "fustian  "  words  ridiculed  by  Clove  in  Every  Man 
out  of  his  Humour  (III.  i).2  Marston  is  not  the  only  writer 
whose  vocabulary  is  ridiculed  by  Jonson,  for,  as  has  been 
shown,  some  of  the  "  fustian  "  not  found  in  Marston's  works 
is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Brisk  and  Puntarvolo.  Amorphus, 
like  Puntarvolo,3  uses  "optic"  (I.  I),  a  "fustian"  word  of 
Clove's.  Of  the  words  disgorged  by  Crispinus  (Poetaster, Y .  i) 
Amorphus  uses  "retrograde"  (V.  2)  and  Critesuses  "reciprocal" 
(I.  i).4  The  language  of  Amorphus  is  ridiculed  in  many  pas- 
sages, and  when  his  use  of  "ingenious,"  "acute,"  and  "polite" 
is  ridiculed,  Hedon  says  (IV.  1 )  that  Amorphus  "  cannot  speak  out 
of  a  dictionary  method."  The  word  "  arride,"  used  by  Amorphus 
(III.  3;  IV.  1),  is  ridiculed  when  used  by  Fastidious  Brisk.5 
Amorphus  uses  "  intrinsecate  "  (V.  2),  one  of  the  "new-minted 
epithets"  attacked  by  Marston  in  The  Scourge  of  Villained 


1  The  Case  is  Altered,  I.  i. 

2  See  above,  p.  51. 

8  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  II.  1. 
4  Amorphus  uses  "reciprocally,"  IV.  1. 
8  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  II.  1. 
8  See  above,  p.  5. 


92  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

The  facts  concerning  Amorphus  agree  in  many  particulars 
with  what  we  know  about  Anthony  Monday,  who  was  attacked 
by  Jonson  as  Antonio  Balladino  in  The  Case  is  Altered,1  and  as 
Puntarvolo  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour.  The  proof  of 
the  latter  identification  is  largely  dependent  on  the  evident 
identity  of  Puntarvolo  and  Amorphus.2  Amorphus  boasts  of 
his  travels,  and  of  the  distinguished  people  he  has  met.  He 
has  been  to  Italy  and  France,  and  has  a  knowledge  of  various 
languages.3  Anthony  Monday  went  to  Rome  in  1578,  impelled 
to  travel,  as  he  tells  us,  by  "  a  desire  to  see  strange  countries, 
and  also  affection  to  learn  the  languages."4  He  was  one  of 
the  messengers  of  Her  Majesty's  Chamber  about  1584,  and  it 
seems  probable  that  he  went  with  Pembroke's  company  on  their 
foreign  tour  in  1598.  5 

Amorphus  says  to  Asotus  (II.  1),  "You  shall  now  as  well 
be  the  ocular  as  the  ear-witness,  how  clearly  I  can  refel  that 
paradox,  or  rather  pseudodox,  of  those  which  hold  the  face  to  be 
the  index  of  the  mind."  Anthony  Monday  translated  from  the 
French  a  book  which  he  entitled  The  Defence  of  Contraries. 
Paradoxes  against  common  opinion,  debated  in  Forme  of  Declama- 
tions in  Place  of  public  Censure  :  onlie  to  exercise  young  wittes 


1  See  abpve,  p.  37. 

2  See  above,  p.  64. 

3  For  similar  facts  concerning  Puntarvolo,  see  above,  p.  64. 

4  The  English  Romayne  Life,  by  Anthony  Monday  (1582  and  1590,  quarto),  re- 
printed in  The  Harleian  Miscellany,  VII.  129.  This  book  gives  an  account  of  the 
life  of  Englishmen  at  the  seminary  in  Rome  at  which  Monday  was  entertained.  He 
travelled  with  Thomas  Nowell,  and  on  the  way  from  Boulogne  to  Amiens  fell  into 
the  hands  of  marauding  soldiers.  He  proceeded  to  Paris,  where  the  English  am- 
bassador gave  him  money  to  enable  him  to  return  to  London,  but  instead  of  doing 
so  he  went  to  Rome,  stopping  on  his  way  at  Lyons,  Milan,  Bologna,  Florence,  and 
Vienna.  See  account  of  Monday  by  Mr.  Thomas  Seccombe  in  The  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography,  XXXIX.  290. 

5  See  above,  p.  42,  note.  Cf.  also  the  proposed  travels  of  Puntarvolo  in  Every 
Man  out  of  hi*  Humour. 


CYNTHIA  S    REVELS.  93 

in  difficult  matters}  There  is,  perhaps,  in  the  winds  of  Amor- 
phus,  an  allusion  to  this  book.  Amorphus  is  constantly  referred 
to  as  "the  traveller,"  a  title  which  Monday  deserved  on  account 
of  his  actual  travels.  Jonson  attacks  not  only  Monday,  hut 
also  his  writings.  Webbe,  in  his  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie, 
1586,  speaks  of  Monday  as  "an  earnest  traveller  in  this  art  [i.e., 
poetry]."2  It  is  possible  that  Jonson  had  in  mind  Webbe's 
criticism,  and  in  calling  Amorphus  a  "traveller,"  used  the 
word   in  a  double   sense. 

Hedon's  poem,  "The  Kiss,"  is  criticised  by  Amorphus,  who 
thinks  the  "die-note"  too  long,  and  who,  after  a  lengthy  ex- 
planation, sings  some  verses  (IV.  1)  on  a  glove  which  "the 
beauteous  lady  Annabel"  gave  him.  He  explains  that  he  had 
set  the  words  to  his  "  most  affected  instrument,  the  lyra." 
After  singing,  he  calls  attention  to  the  care  that  he  had  taken 
in  fitting  words  to  music  :  — 

Do  you  not  observe  how  excellently  the  ditty  is  affected  in  every  place? 
that  1  do  not  marry  a  word  of  short  quantity  to  a  long  note?  nor  an  ascend- 
ing syllable  to  a  descending  tone?  Besides,  upon  the  word  "best"3  there, 
you  see  how  I  do  enter  with  an  odd  minum,  and  drive  it  through  the  brief  : 
which  no  intelligent  musician,  I  know,  but  will  affirm  to  be  very  rare,  extra- 
ordinary and  pleasing. 

1  The  title-page  (see  Lowndes'  Bibliographers'  Manual,  1630,  III.)  states  that  the 
book  was  "translated  out  of  French  by  A.  M.,  Messenger  of  Her  Majesty's 
Chamber."  H  alii  well,  contrary  to  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  title-page,  attrib- 
uted the  book  to  Lodge.     The  book  was  published  in  1593. 

2  A  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie,  by  William  Webbe,  reprint  by  Arber.  p.  35. 
;!  Referring  to  the  last  line  of  the  song  :  — 

That  was  thy  mistress  best  of  gloves. 
Jonson  in  this  song  ridicules  the  affected  language  of  the  courtiers.  The  first 
line  of  the  poem  on  the  glove  is  "Thou  more  than  most  sweet  glove."  In  Every 
Man  out  of  his  Humour  (V.  1)  Macilente  tells  Sogliardo,  "  Be  sure  to  kiss  your 
hand  often  enough  ;  pray  for  her  health,  and  tell  her  how  more  than  most  fair  she 
is."  Amorphus  tells  Asotus  (III.;,)  to  take  his  mistress  by  the  "  rosy-fingered 
hand,"  and  "then  offering  to  kiss  her  hand,  if  she  shall  coyly  recoil,  and  signify 
your  repulse  :  you  are  to  reenforce  yourself  with  more  than  most  fair  lady"  See 
above,  p.  25,  note. 


94  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Amorphus  wrote  only  the  words  of  the  song.  Anthony  Mon- 
day wrote  a  number  of  songs  which  he  set  to  tunes  by  various 
composers.  In  1588  he  published  a  book  entitled  A  Banquet 
of  Daintie  Conceits  ;  furnished  with  verie  delicate  and  choyce  In- 
ventions to  delight  their  mindes  who  take  Pleasure  in  Musique : 
and  therewithal  to  sing  sweete  Ditties  eitJier  to  the  L  ute,  Bandora, 
Virginalles,  or  anie  other  Instrument.  The  hostility  of  Amor- 
phus to  Anaides  (whom  he  terms  [IV.  1]  "rude,  debauched, 
impudent,  coarse,  unpolished,  a  f rapier  and  base  ")  is  in  accord 
with  what  we  have  learned  of  the  relations  between  Monday 
and  Marston.  Evidence  has  been  adduced  to  prove  that  in 
Histriomastix  Marston  satirized  Monday  as  Posthast.1  There 
was  evidently  a  quarrel  between  the  two  men,  a  fact  which 
Jonson  did  not  fail  to  use  in  Cynthia  s  Revels  as  he  had  used  it 
in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  in  which  (V.  4)  Puntarvolo 
(Monday)  finally  sealed  up  Carlo's  (Marston's)  mouth. 

There  are  yet  other  facts  which  tend  to  prove  the  identity  of 
Amorphus  and  Anthony  Monday.2  In  1 598  Jonson  satirized 
Monday  as  Antonio  Balladino,  "  pageant-poet  to  the  city  of 
Milan."3     He  is  said  to  lack  originality,  and  to  be  unable  to 


1  See  above,  p.  41. 

2  Attempts  to  identify  Amorphus  have  led  to  some  interesting  conclusions. 
A  writer  (qy.  Simpson?)  in  The  North  British  Review  (1870,  p.  407)  says  of 
"  Amorphus,  the  Deformed  "  :  "  There  are  indications  that  Shakespeare  had  been 
already  nicknamed  '  Deformed  '  by  the  purist  school  of  critics,  who,  ever  since 
Nash  in  1589,  and  Greene  in  1592,  had  been  attacking  him  for  ignorance  of  art, 
for  decking  himself  in  other  men's  feathers,  and  gleaning  his  wit  at  second  hand. 
This  supposition  gives  a  very  piquant  meaning  to  the  joke  in  Much  Ado  about 
lVoth ing,  about  'one  Deformed,'  whom  Dogberry  and  his  wise  watchman  had 
known  as  a  'vile  thief  this  seven  year.'  "  Simpson,  in  a  paper  on  The  Political 
use  of  the  Stage  (Transactions  of  the  New  Shakspere  Society,  1874,  Part  II.  p. 
391)  says  :  "In  Cynthia's  Revels,  '  Amorphus,  or  the  Deformed,'  evidently  repre- 
sents the  person  mentioned  in  Much  Ado,  as  '  one  Deformed,'  '  a  vile  thief  this 
seven  year.' "  Mr.  Fleay  identifies  "one  Deformed  "  in  Much  Ado  with  Nashe. 
but  not  with  Amorphus.      Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  144. 

:i  The  Case  is  Altered,  I.  1. 


CYNTHIA  S    REVELS.  95 

invent  anything  new  for  his  pageants.  Monday  was  for  man)' 
years  pageant-poet  to  the  city  of  London.1  The  second  game 
played  by  the  gallants  and  their  mistresses  (IV.  I)  results  in 
the  following  statement  :  — 

An  oration  was  made  by  a  traveller,  with  a  glyster,  in  a  pair  of  pained 
slops,  last  progress  for  the  delight  of  ladies.  A  few  heat  drops  and  a 
month's  mirth  followed,  and  this  silent  gentleman  (Asotus)  would  have  done 
it  better. 

The  "traveller"  here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  play,  is  Amorphus 
(Monday),  and  the  allusion  is  to  a  pageant  set  forth  at  the  "  last 
progress."  2  Toward  the  close  of  the  same  almost  interminable 
scene  (IV.  i)  it  is  announced  that  Cynthia  intends  to  appear, 
and  Amorphus  at  once  suggests  presenting  a  masque. 

Amorphus.    What  say  you  to  a  masque? 
Hedon.    Nothing  better,  if  the  project  were  new  and  rare. 
Arete.    Why,  I  '11  send  for  Crites,  and  have  his  advice  :  be  you  ready  in 
your  endeavours  :  he  shall  discharge  you  of  the  inventive  part. 

Amorphus  resents  the  suggestion  that  Crites  (Jonson)  be  asked 
to  assist  in  the  preparation  of  the  masque,  and  with  an  injured 
and  indignant  air  asks,  "  Have  not  I  invention  afore  him  ? 
learning  to  better  that  invention  above  him  ?  and  infanted  with 
pleasant  travel  ?  " 

At  the  opening  of  the  last  act,  Crites  is  told  by  Mercury 
that  the  purpose  of  the  night's  entertainment  is  to  rebuke  the 
courtiers  for  their  follies.  In  the  next  scene  (V.  2),  Arete, 
ignoring  entirely  Amorphus,  who  had  made  the  suggestion, 
tells  Crites  to  prepare  a  masque.  In  the  circumstances  just 
mentioned,  Jonson  reiterates  the  old  charge,  made  in  The  Case 
is  Altered,  that  Monday  had  no  powers  of  invention,  and  was 
unfit   to  be  pageant-poet.      The  only  suitable  person  for  the 

1  See  above,  p.  38. 

-  The  second  game,  "  A  thing  done  anil  who  did  it,"  was  printed  first  in  the 
folio  1 61 6.  As  we  do  not  know  the  date  at  which  it  was  written  we  cannot  tell 
to  what  pageant  or  progress  reference  is  licit-  made. 


9©  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

office  was  Crites  (Jonson).  We  have  here,  probably,  the  reason 
for  Jonson's  repeated  satire  of  Monday.  We  have  suggested 
that  Jonson's  hostility  to  Daniel  was  for  a  similar  reason,1  for 
Daniel  had,  through  court  influence,  obtained  the  position  of 
poet-laureate,  a  position  coveted  by  Jonson.  In  the  Palinode, 
Amorphus  craves  pardon,  among  other  things,  for  "  squiring 
to  tilt-yards,  play-houses,  pageants,  and  all  such  public  places." 

After  what  has  been  said  of  the  other  characters,  and  inci- 
dentally, of  their  relations  to  Crites,  there  is  need  to  add  but 
little  concerning  him.  Jonson  draws  his  own  picture,  empha- 
sizing his  virtues  and  praising  himself  without  stint.  It  is 
Crites  alone  that  Arete  praises,  and  he  alone  is  welcome  at  the 
court  of  Cynthia.  The  most  significant  scene  is  perhaps  that 
(III.  2)  in  which  Anaides  and  Hedon  plot  against  Crites,  who 
does  not  deign  to  notice  them.  The  chief  charges  brought 
against  him  in  the  play  are  his  wearing  of  shabby  clothes  and 
his  being  a  scholar  (III.  2).  Jonson's  failure  to  gain  money 
by  his  works  is  represented  in  the  unsuccessful  attempt  (IV.  1) 
to  make  Argurion  bestow  favor  on  Crites.  The  speeches  of 
Crites  are  characteristic  criticism  of  the  follies  of  the  time. 
It  is  contrary  to  our  ideas  for  a  man  to  describe  himself  as  "  a 
creature  of  a  most  perfect  and  divine  temper  :  one  in  whom 
the  humours  and  elements  are  peaceably  met,  etc.,"  and  when 
Jonson  so  described  himself  as  Crites,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
he  aroused  antagonism.  He  denied  the  existence  in  himself 
of  those  vices  and  follies  with  which  he  was  only  too  ready  to 
charge  other  men. 

Of  his  accusers,  he  says  (III.  2):  — 
So  they  be  ill  men 
If  they  spake  worse,  'twere  better. 


but  when  I  remember 
'Tis  Hedon  and  Anaides,  alas,  then 
I  think  but  what  they  are,  and  am  not  stirred. 


1  See  above,  p.  13. 


CYNTHIA  S    REVELS.  97 

In  several  passages  Crites  describes  his  four  foes,  and  after 
one  such  passage  (V.  2)  Mercury  says  :  "Sir,  you  have  played 
the  painter  yourself,  and  limned  them  to  the  life."  It  is  this 
passage  that  Marston  had  in  mind  when  he  introduced  the 
painter  with  two  pictures  in  Antonio  and  Mellida}  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  masques  (V.  3),  the  courtiers,  who  had 
gained  access  to  Cynthia's  presence  by  pretending  to  be  what 
they  were  not,  are  sentenced  by  Crites  to  sing  the  Palinode, 
in  which  are  set  forth  the  faults  and  follies  of  courtiers 
in  general,  but  especially  of  the  four  men  satirized  in  the  play. 
The  Epilogue,  in  Jonson's  most  characteristic  vein,  ends  with 
the  line  so  often  quoted  by  his  enemies  :  — 

By 'tis  good,  and  if  you  like't.  you  may. 


1  This  scene  is  discussed  below. 


VII. 


ANTONIO    AND    MELLIDA    AND    THE    SPANISH 
TRAGEDY. 

The  History  of  Antonio  and  Me  Hi  da  and  Antonio's  Revenge 
were  both  performed  in  1600,  and  published,  quarto,  in  1602. 
They  are  the  last  plays  of  Marston's  from  which  words  and 
phrases  are  ridiculed  in  Poetaster  (1601).  This  ridicule  con- 
nects Antonio's  Revenge  with  "  The  War  of  the  Theatres." 
Antonio  and  Mellida  enters  into  our  discussion,  not  only  because 
Jonson  ridiculed  the  vocabulary  employed  in  it,  but  also  because 
there  is  undoubtedly  a  close  connection  between  the  scene 
(V.  1)  in  which  a  painter  is  asked  to  paint  "  Uh  !  "  and  to 
"  make  a  picture  sing,"  and  a  scene,  probably  written  by 
Jonson,  in  The  Spanish  Tragedy  (IV.),  in  which  Hieronimo 
requests  Bazarclo  to  paint  "a  doleful  cry." 

In  Cynthia's  Revels  (V.  2)  Mercury,  replying  to  the  descrip- 
tion of.  the  characters  by  Crites,  says  :  — 

Sir,  you  have  played  the  painter  yourself,  and  limned  them  to  the  life. 

In  Antonio  and  Mellida  (V.  1)  Balurdo  says  to  the  painter,  who 
states  that  he  "  did  limn  "  the  two  pictures  which  he  brought  : 

Limn  them?  a  good  word,  limn  them:  whose  picture  is  this?  Anno 
Domini,  1599.  Believe  me,  Master  Anno  Domini  was  of  a  good  settled 
age  when  you  limned  him  :  1 599  years  old  !  Let 's  see  the  other.  Aetatis 
suae  24.  Byrlady,  he  is  somewhat  younger.  Belike  Master  Aetatis  Suae 
was  Anno  DominVs  son. 

Marston's  ridicule  of  Jonson's  word  "  limn  "  is  plain,  and  the 
two  pictures  are  probably  the  two  representations  of  Marston, 
the  first  as  Carlo  Buffone  in   Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour 


ANTONIO    AND    MELLIDA    AND    THE    SPANISH    TRAGEDY.        99 

in  1599,  the  second  as  Anaides  in  Cynthia's  Revels  in  1600. 
Twenty-four  years,  the  age  of  Aetatis  Suae,  was  almost  certainly 
the  age  of  Marston  in  1600,1  when  Jonson  represented  him  as 
Anaides. 

It  has  been  thought  by  some  critics2  that  the  great  similarity 
between  the  painter  scene  (V.  1)  in  Antonio  and  Mellida  and 
the  scene  in  The  Spanish  Tragedy  (IV.)  is  the  result  of  an 
attempt  by  Marston  to  parody  a  scene  written  by  Jonson. 
There  is  no  positive  proof  that  Jonson  wrote  the  Painter  scene 
in  The  Spanish  Tragedy,  although  it  is  probable  that  he  did, 
for  we  know  that  in  1601  and  1602  he  wrote  additions  to  a  play 
which  Henslowe  called  Geronymo3  but  which  was,  as  Collier 
has  pointed  out,  almost  certainly  The  Spanish  Tragedy}  That 
the  painter  scene  was  one  of  the  "adicyons"  mentioned  by 


1  On  Feb.  4,  1591-92,  "John  Marston,  aged  16,  a  gentleman's  son,  of  co. 
Warwick,"  was  matriculated  at  Krazennose  College,  Oxford.  (See  Dr.  Grosart's 
Introduction  to  Marston 's  Poems,  p.  x,  quoted  by  Mr.  Bullen,  The  Works  of  John 
Marston,  I.  xii.)  That  this  John  Marston  was  the  poet  is  all  but  certain.  His 
age  was  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  years  in  1600. 

-  Mr.  Fleay  says  :  "Jonson,  early  in  1600,  in  Cynthia's  Revels  (V.  2),  'played 
the  painter,  and  limned  to  the  life  '  Anaides,  Hedon,  and  Amorphus.  .  .  .  He  also 
wrote  the  additional  scene  with  the  painter  in  it  in  K^yd's  Spanish  Tragedy,  which 
was,  perhaps,  acted  by  the  Chapel  children  1599- 1600  (see  Induction  to  Cynthia's 
Revels),  wherein  Jeronymo  requires  '  a  doleful  cry '  to  be  painted.  Marston  hits 
both  these  by  introducing  a  painter  who.  in  1  599,  had  '  limned  '  one  picture,  and 
in  1600  had  represented  Marston  at  twenty-four  years  old  in  the  other."  Chronicle 
of  the  English  Drama,   II.   75. 

3  "  Lent  unto  Mr.  Alleyn,  the  25  of  Septembr  160 1,  to  lend  unto  Bengemen 
Johnson,  upon  his  writtinge  of  his  adit  ions  in  Geronymo,  the  some  of  xxxxs." 
Henslowe 's  Diary,  p.  20 1 . 

"  Lent  unto  bengemy  Johnsone,  at  the  apoyntment  of  E.  Alleyn  and  Wm.  Birde, 
the  24  of  June  1602,  in  eameste  of  a  boocke  called  Richard  crockbacke,  and  for 
new  adicyons  for  Jeronymo,  the  some  of  x  li."      Ibid.,  p.  223. 

4  Henslowe 's  Diary,  ed.  Collier,  p.  201,  note  2.  The  Spanish  Tragedy  was  a 
second  part  of  the  old  play  Jeronymo,  to  which  there  is  no  evidence  that  additions 
were  ever  made.     In  the  Induction  to  Cynthia'*  Revels  (  K>oo)  it  is  said,  "  Another 

.   .   .  swears  .   .   .   that  the  old  Hieronimo,  a-  it  was  fust  acted,  was  the  only  best 
and  judiciously  penned  play  of  Europe." 


IOO  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Henslowe,  seems  probable  from  the  evidence  furnished  by  the 
title-page  of  the  quarto  published  in  1602.1  The  Spanish 
Tragedie :  .  .  .  enlarged  with  new  additions  of  the  Painters 
part  and  others,  as  it  hath  of  late  been  divers  times  acted. 
Imprinted  at  London  by  IV  IV.  for  T.  Pavier.  .  .  .  1602.2 
Since  the  evidence  seems  to  show  that  the  scene  in  The 
Spanish  Tragedy  was  written  later  than  the  similar  scene  in 
Antonio  and  Mellida,  and  since  the  similarity  of  the  two  scenes 
is  such  as  almost  to  exclude  even  the  possibility  of  their  having 
been  written  independently  of  each  other,  we  have  left  to  us 
three  hypotheses  on  which  to  explain  the  relationship  of  the 
scenes.  If,  as  seems  probable,  the  scene  in  The  Spanish 
Tragedy  was  written  in  1602,  then  Marston's  scene,  if  a  parody, 
must  have  been  written  later  than  the  rest  of  Antonio  and 
Mellida  (1600),  and  inserted  in  the  play  when  it  was  published 
in  1602.  This  seems  a  possible  explanation,  for  Marston's 
scene  is  not  an  organic  part  of  the  play,  and  might  have  been 
interpolated.  We  can  find,  however,  no  good  reason  for  any 
such  proceeding  on  the  part  of  Marston,  for,  at  the  late  date  at 
which  we  must  necessarily  suppose  the  scene  to  have  been 
written,  his  relations  with  Jonson  were  probably  more  amicable 
than  they  were  in  1600,  or  at  least  the  "War"  was  over. 
Marston  had,  so  far  as  we  know,  no  reason  in  1602  for  alluding, 
as  he  did  so  specifically,  to  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour 
and  Cynthia  s  Revels,  and  omitting  any  reference  to  the  worst 
and  most  recent  caricature  of  all,  Poetaster.  A  second  explana- 
tion of  the  similarity  of  the  two  scenes  is  that  given  by  Mr. 
Fleay,3  but,  if  we  accept  it,  we  must  ignore  the  evidence  offered 
by  Henslowe's  entries,  and  by  the  title-page  of  the  1602  quarto 

1  There  were  earlier  quartos  of  this  play  in  which  no  mention  is  made  of  the 
painter.  See  Dodsle/s  Old  English  Plays,  ed.  Hazlitt,  V.  2  ;  also  Halliwell's 
Dictionary  of  Old  Plays. 

2  Title  as  given  in  Dodslefs  Old  English  Plays,  ed.  Hazlitt,  V.  2. 

3  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  75. 


ANTONIO    AND    MELLIDA    AND    THE    SPANISH     IKAf.KDV.      IOI 

of  The  Spanish  Tragedy,  and  must  insist  that  the  painter  scene 
was  a  part  of  that  play  as  early  as  i  599-1600.  For  the  latter 
supposition  there  is  no  evidence.  It  seems  almost  certain  thai 
Marston  did  not,  in  1600,  parody  the  scene  in  The  Spanish 
Tragedy.  A  third  explanation,  and  one  that  is  in  accord  with 
the  evidence,  is  that  Marston's  scene  was  suggested  to  him  by 
the  passage  in  Cynthia  s  Revels,  which  had  just  been  performed 
for  the  first  time,  and  that  the  scene  in  The  Spanish  Tragedy 
was  suggested  to  Jonson  by  the  scene  in  Antonio  and  Mellida. 

If  this  last  explanation  is  correct,  we  find  a  parallel  instance 
of  similarity  between  a  passage  by  Marston  and  a  passage  by 
Jonson  in  the  speeches  of  Chrisoganus  and  Macilente,  to  which 
attention  has  been  called.1 

The  Epilogue  to  Cynthia  s  Revels  aroused  opposition  by  its 
arrogant  declaration  concerning  the  play  — 

By 'tis  good,  and  if  you  like 't  you  may. 

It  is  to  this  that  the  Epilogue  to  Antonio  and  Mellida  evidently 
refers  :  — 

I  stand  not  as  a  peremptory  challenger  of  desert,  either  for  him  that 
composed  the  Comedy,  or  for  us  that  acted  it  ;  but  as  a  most  submissive 
suppliant  for  both. 

The  Epilogue  to  Antonio  and  Mellida  was  armed,  and  Jon- 
son's  next  play,  Poetaster,  had  an  armed  Prologue.2 

1  See  above,  p.  39. 

2  Jonson's  armed  Prologue  was  a  reply  to  Marston's  armed  Epilogue.  The 
Prologue  to  Troilus  and  Cressida  is  armed,  and  speaks  lines  which  may  refer  to 
the  Prologue  to  Poetaster.  The  Envy  Prologue  was  an  idea  borrowed  perhaps 
from  Mucedorus. 


VIII. 

POETASTER. 

Poetaster  is  Jonson's  only  openly  avowed  reply1  to  attacks 
made  on  him  by  other  playwrights.  He  told  Drummond  that 
"  he  had  many  quarrells  with  Marston,  beat  him,  and  took  his 
pistol  from  him,  wrote  his  Poetaster  on  him."2  The  play  was 
first  peformed  in  1601  by  the  Chapel  children,  and  was  entered 
S.  R.  Dec.  21,  i6oi,3and  published,  quarto,  in  1602.  The  attack 
on  lawyers  and  soldiers  caused  Jonson  to  be  brought  before 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  but  his  innocence  of  the  charges  made 
against  him  was  answered  for  by  his  friend  Mr.  Richard  Mar- 
tin, to  whom  he  prefixed,  in  the  folio  edition  4  of  the  play  (1616), 
an  epistle  referring  to  the  incident.  Appended  to  the  play  in 
the  quarto  is  this  note  :  — 

Here,  reader,  in  place  of  the  Epilogue  was  meant  to  thee  an  Apology 
from  the  Author,  with  his  reasons  for  the  publishing  of  this  book  :  but,  since 
he  is  no  less  restrained,  than  thou  deprived  of  it  by  Authority,  he  prays 
thee  to  think  charitably  of  what  thou  hast  read,  till  thou  mayest  hear  him 
speak  what  he  hath  written. 


1  Although  Jonson's  earlier  comedies  all  contained  attacks  on  other  men,  yet  he 
never  openly  acknowledged  the  fact. 

2  Jons oil's  Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  20. 

3  Poetaster  was  acted  before  Dekker's  Satiromastix,  which  was  in  preparation, 
and  which,  when  it  was  acted,  contained  numerous  references  to  Poetaster. 

4  The  folio  (1616)  differs  in  some  respects  from  the  quarto  (1602).  In  the 
third  act,  the  folio  contains,  as  the  concluding  scene,  a  dialogue  between  Horace 
and  Trebatius  (a  translation  of  Horace,  Sat.  II.  1)  not  in  the  quarto.  There 
are  numerous  minor  differences,  mostly  verbal,  but  a  very  important  difference 
between  the  two  versions  is  the  addition,  in  the  folio,  of  the  "  Apologetical 
Dialogue  which  was  only  once  spoken  upon  the  stage."     This  was  evidently  writ- 


POETASTER.  IO3 

Prefixed  to  the  Apologetical  Dialogue  in  the  folio  is  this 
note  :  — 

TO   THE    READER. 

If,  by  looking  on  what  is  past,  thou  hast  deserved  that  name,  I  am  will- 
ing thou  shouldst  yet  know  more,  by  that  which  follows,  an  Apologetical 
Dialogue  ;  which  was  only  once  spoken  upon  the  sta<ie.  and  all  the  answer 
1  ever  gave  to  sundry  impotent  libels  then  cast  out  (and  some  yet  remain 
ing)  against  me,  and  this  play.  Wherein  I  take  no  pleasure  to  revive  the 
times  ;  but  that  posterity  may  make  a  difference  between  their  manners  that 
provoked  me  then,  and  mine  that  neglected  them  ever.  For,  in  these  strifes, 
and  on  such  persons,  were  as  wretched  to  affect  a  victory,  a.s  it  is  unhappy 
to  be  committed  with  them.  Non  annorum  canities  est  laudanda,  sed 
morn  in. 

In  this  note,  and  in  the  Dialogue  which  follows,  we  have  a 
direct  mention  by  Jonson  of  the  stage  war  in  which  he  had 
been  involved.  Nasutus  and  Polyposus  ]  call  upon  the  author 
at  his  lodgings  to  see  "  how  he  looks  after  these  libels."  2  The 
author  defends  himself,  in  a  manner  characteristic  of  Jonson, 
by  declaring  that  his  play  was  innocent  of  offence,  "  some  salt 
it  had,  but  neither  tooth  nor  gall."  He  denies  having  "taxed 
the  law  and  lawyers,  captains  and  the  players  by  their  particular 
names,"  and  declares  that  while  he  attacked  vices,  he  spared 
persons.  He  does  not  know  why  he  has  been  attacked,  but 
says  :  — 


ten  after  the  trouble  with  the  lawyers  and  soldiers,  and  also  after  the  acting  of 
Satiromastix.  It  is  probable  that  the  "  Apology  from  the  Author,"  from  which 
he  was  "restrained  by  authority"  in  1602,  was  made  in  this  "Apologetical 
Dialogue." 

1  These  names  are  from  Martial,  12,  37,  and  13,  2.  Mr.  Fleay  suggests  that 
Nasutus  may  "  glance  at  Ovidius  Naso,  '  the  well-nosed.'  "  Chronicle  of  the  English 
Drama,  I.  369. 

2  "  These  libels  "  were  probably  the  legal  proceedings  against  Jonson,  as  well 
as  criticisms  on  his  play,  and  possibly  Dc-kkei  "s  reply  in  Satiromastix.  So  far  as 
we  can  judge,  it  seems  that  public  opinion  was  on  the  side  of  the  lawyers, 
soldiers,  and  players  whom  Jonson  had  satirized. 


104  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

sure  I  am,  three  years 
They  did  provoke  me  with  their  petulant  styles 
On  every  stage  :  and  I  at  last,  unwilling. 
But  weary,  I  confess,  of  so  much  trouble, 
Thought  I  would  try  if  shame  could  win  upon  'em  ; 
And  therefore  chose  Augustus  Caesar's  times, 
When  wit  and  arts  were  at  their  height  in  Rome, 
To  shew  that  Virgil,  Horace,  and  the  rest 
Of  those  great  master-spirits,  did  not  want 
Detractors  then,  or  practicers  against  them. 

Jonson  remarks  successively  on  his  treatment  of  lawyers, 
soldiers,  and  players.  He  admits  that  he  "  brought  in  Ovid, 
chid  by  his  angry  father  for  neglecting"  the  law,  but  denies 
any  reference  to  law  and  lawyers  of  his  own  time.  "  For  the 
captain  "  he  speaks  the  epigram,  "  Unto  True  Soldiers,"  and 
against  "such  as  are  miscalled  captains,"  referring  to  Shift, 
Tucca,  and  others  of  that  type.  He  then  replies  to  the  charge 
that  he  had  attacked  the  players  :  — 

Now  for  the  players,  it  is  true,  I  taxed  them, 

And  yet  but  some  ;  and  those  so  sparingly, 

As  all  the  rest  might  have  sat  still  unquestioned, 

Had  they  but  had  the  wit  or  conscience 

To  think  well  of  themselves.     But,  impotent,  they 

Thought  each  man's  vice  belonged  to  their  whole  tribe  ; 

And  much  good  do't  them  !  What  they  have  done  'gainst  me, 

I  am  not  moved  with  :  if  it  gave  them  meat, 

Or  got  them  clothes,  'tis  well  ;  that  was  their  end. 

Only  amongst  them,  I  am  sorry  for 

Some  better  natures,1  by  the  rest  so  drawn, 

To  run  in  that  vile  line. 


1  Whalley  remarks  on  the  theory  of  some  critics  that  Shakespeare  was  one  of 
these  "better  natures."  There  is  no  evidence  whatever  to  substantiate  such  a 
theory,  but  if  it  could  be  proved  that  Shakespeare  was  involved  in  "  The  War  of 
the  Theatres,"  we  might  possibly  find  in  this  passage  a  reference  to  the  "purge," 
mentioned  in  The  Return  from  Parnassus,  as  having  been  given  by  Shakespeare 
to  Ben  Jonson  as  a  reply  to  Poetaster.     The  "  better  natures  "  were  actors  and 


POETASTER.  IO5 

Polyposus.    And  is  this  all  ! 

Will  you  not  answer,  then,  the  libels  ' 
Author.    No. 

PofypOSUS.     Nor  the    I'ntrussers  ?  * 
Author.     Neither. 

An  inference  drawn  from  the  passage  quoted  may  explain 
the  long  duration  of  "The  War  of  the  Theatres."  Jonson 
states  here  and  elsewhere  that  these  satirical  plays  were  profit- 
able to  the  writers.  The  plays  "  gave  them  meat  "  and  "  got 
them  clothes,"  and  this  "was  their  end"  in  writing  them. 
Histrio  says  (III.  1)  that  the  reason  for  hiring  Demetrius 
(Dekker)  to  bring  in  Horace  (Jonson)  and  his  gallants  in  a 
play  is  that  "  it  will  get  us  a  huge  deal  of  money  .  .  .  and  we 
have  need  on't."  Of  course  any  profit  to  be  derived  from 
satirical  plays  could  be  gained  by  Jonson  as  well  as  by  his 
opponents.  Although  Jonson  was  several  times  involved  in 
legal  difficulties  on  account  of  his  plays,2  and  although  the 
Elizabethan  laws  concerning  libel  and  slander  were  severe,  and 
the  people  of  the  time  were  litigious,3  yet  we  have  no  record  of 


playwrights  with  whom  Jonson  had  no  quarrel,  butwho  evidently  sympathized 
with  Marston.  The  reference  may  be  to  the  Chamberlain's  company,  by  whom 
Satiromastix  was  performed,  or  to  Dekker  who  wrote  it. 

1  A  reference  to  Satiromastix,  or,  The  Untrussing  of  the  Humorous  Poet. 

2  Once  for  satirizing  lawyers  and  soldiers  in  Poetaster  ;  again  for  his  share  in 
Eastward  Ho  (written  [1604]  with  Marston  and  Chapman)  in  which  allusions  to 
the  Scots  proved  offensive  to  the  King  and  his  friends.  See  fonson's  Conversa- 
tions with  Drummond,  p.  20. 

8  For  an  interesting  account  of  Elizabethan  suits  for  libel,  with  special  reference 
to  the  trial  of  Nicholas  Udal  and  others  concerned  in  the  Martin  Marprelate  con- 
troversy, see  Sir  James  Stephen's  History  of  the  Criminal  Law  of  England,  Ch. 
XXIV.  For  an  account  of  the  laws  of  libel  in  Elizabeth's  reign,  see  Kent's 
Commentaries,  II.  iS.  For  these  references  the  writer  is  indebted  to  William 
Henry  Loyd,  Esq.,  of  the  Philadelphia  bar.  The  Register  of  the  Privy  Council 
contains  accounts  of  difficulties  which  arose  as  the  result  of  having  represented  on 
the  stage  "  the  persons  of  some  gent,  of  good  desert  and  quallity  that  are  yet  alive 
under  obscure  manner,  but  yet  in  such  sorte  as  all  the  hearers  may  take  notice 
both  of  the  matter  and  the  persons  that  are  meant  thereby."     See  Early  London 


106  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

any  legal  action  instituted  by  the  playwrights  against  Jonson, 
or  by  Jonson  against  the  playwrights.  There  was  undoubtedly 
much  bitterness  of  feeling  on  both  sides,  but,  much  as  the  men 
hated  each  other,  they  sought  no  legal  redress,  for  the  almost 
libellous  plays  were  a  source  of  profit,  and  legal  proceedings 
might  have  "killed  the  goose  that  laid  the  golden  eggs." 

The  scene  of  Poetaster  is  laid  in  Rome,  in  the  days  of 
Augustus,  and  Jonson  appears  as  Horace.  The  "  Poetaster," 
at  whom  the  satire  is  aimed,  is  Crispinus,  who  has  associated 
with  him  Demetrius,  "  a  dresser  of  plays,"  who  is  "to  abuse 
Horace,  and  bring  him  in  in  a  play"  (III.  i).  The  great  clas- 
sical learning  of  Jonson  is  shown  on  every  page,  and  his  general 
attitude  in  the  play  is  that  of  Horace  (Sat.  I.  10)  in  which  he 
replies  to  the  criticisms  made  on  his  works  by  his  enemies, 
Demetrius  and  Tigellius.  In  I.  i  Ovid  recites  a  poem  which 
is  a  translation  of  Ovid,  Amor.,  Lib.  I.,  EL  15.  The  song 
(II.  1),  "  If  I  freely  may  discover,"  is  based  on  Martial,  I.  58. 
In  the  last  act  is  a  translation  of  Aincid,  IV.  160-188.  There 
are  numerous  passages  in  which  Jonson  has  followed  very 
closely  lines  of  Horace,  Juvenal,  and  other  classical  writers. 
The  climax  of  the  satire  is  reached  in  the  scene  (V.  1)  in  which 
Horace  gives  the  emetic  pill  to  Crispinus,  who  with  Demetrius 
has  been  condemned  for  attacks  on  Horace.  This  scene  is  an 
adaptation  of  the  LexipJiancs  of  Lucian,  from  whom  Jonson  bor- 
rowed not  only  the  idea,  but  also  numerous  phrases.  Poetaster 
contains  so  much  borrowed  from  classical  writers  that  it  is 
often  difficult  to  say  whether  incidents  related  refer  to  the 
men   of   Jonson's   time,   or  are   introduced   to    bring   the   play 


Theatres,  T.  Faii'man  Oldish,  p.  90  ;  also  Outlines  of  the  Life  of  Shakespeare, 
Halliwell-Phillipps,  6th  ed.,  I.  342.  How  the  people  of  the  time  regarded  legal 
actions  may  be  seen  from  the  following  passage  in  The  Case  is  Altered,  V.  4:  — 

Fcmeze.    What,  are  my  hinds  turn'd  gentlemen  ? 

Onion.  Hinds,  Sir  !  'sblood  an  that  word  will  bear  an  action,  it  shall  cost  us  a 
thousand  pound  apiece,  but  we  '11  be  revenged. 


POETASTER.  107 

into   agreement    with   the    facts    concerning    Horace   and    his 

contemporaries. 

Little  has  been  added  to  our  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of 
Poetaster  since  Gifford  published  his  notes,  which,  although 
containing  some  mistakes,  yet  point  out  clearly  the  most  im- 
portant allusions  and  the  true  relationship  of  the  chief  charac- 
ters. We  are  able  to  identify  the  originals  of  Horace  (Jonson), 
Crispinus  (Marston),  and  Demetrius  (Dekker),  but  numerous 
less  important  characters  remain  unidentified,  although  in 
several  instances  there  are  possibly  hints  as  to  the  identity  of 
the  men  represented.  In  most  cases  the  evidence  is  too  slight 
to  be  of  much  value.  It  is  possible  that  Jonson  did  not  intend 
to  represent  his  contemporaries  in  the  characters  of  many  of 
the  Roman  poets  who  appear  in  Poetaster.  Although  the 
evidence  is  so  abundant  and  conclusive  as  to  the  identity  of 
Crispinus  with  Marston,1  yet  critics,  until  the  time  of  Gifford, 
who  corrected  the  error,2  thought  it  beyond  question  that 
Dekker  was  the  man  represented.3 

Horace  is  avowedly  Jonson,  and  Gifford  has  made  clear 
nearly  all  the  allusions  to  him  in  the  play,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  show  that  what  Jonson's  enemies  regarded  to  be  in  him 
arrogance,  conceit,  bitterness,  and  deserved  poverty,  were  in 
reality  proper  self-esteem,  righteous  indignation,  and  neglected 
virtue. 


1  Jonson  told  Drummond  that  he  wrote  Poetaster  on  Marston  {Conversations,  p. 
20),  a  statement  that  was  omitted  in  the  version  of  Cotiversations  published  in 
171 1  in  Drammond's  works.  Jonson's  statement  was  never  published  until  1S42, 
and  critics  before  that  date  were  ignorant  of  it.  In  spite  of  this  fact  it  is  difficult 
to  see  how  they  made  the  mistake  of  supposing  Crispinus  to  be  Dekker. 

-  See  note  on  Poetaster,  III.  1,  Ben  Jonson,  ed.  Gifford,  II.  453. 

8  Jonson  satirized  "Dekker  in  his  Poetaster,  1601,  under  the  character  of  Cris- 
pinus." Shakspeare  and  his  Times,  Drake,  I.  487.  "This  play  [Satiromastix] 
was  writ  on  the  occasion  of  Ben  Johnson's  Poetaster,  where,  under  the  title  of 
Crispinus,  Ben  lashed  our  author  [Dekker]."  .-/;/  Account  of  the  English  Drama- 
tick  Poets,  Langbaine  (ed.  1691),  p.  123. 


108  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

The  first  act  of  Poetaster  is  concerned  almost  wholly  with 
Ovid,  whose  pursuit  of  poetry  and  neglect  of  law,  in  defiance 
of  his  father's  wishes,  gave  Jonson  an  opportunity  to  ridicule 
the  law  and  lawyers  of  his  own  time.  He  denied  later1  having 
attacked  individuals.  It  may  be  noted  in  this  connection,  that 
Edward  Knowell,  in  Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  neglected  other 
pursuits  and  gave  his  time  to  poetry,  contrary  to  the  wishes  of 
his  father  ;  and  also  that  Fungoso,  in  Every  Man  out  of  his 
Humour,  neglected  his  study  of  law.  We  have  seen  that  none 
of  these  characters  is  Marston,  but  it  is  possible  that  Jonson 
may  have  had  Marston  in  mind,  as  we  know  that  Marston  dis- 
appointed his  father's  hopes  in  regard  to  becoming  a  lawyer.2 

We  do  not  know  who  was  represented  as  Ovid,  but  Mr.  Fleay 
suggests  "  Donne,  who  divided  his  attention  between  law  and 
poetry,  and  married  Anne  Moore  (Julia)  without  her  father's 
consent."3  Dr.  Cartwright  insists  that  Ovid  is  Shakespeare.4 
Tibullus  and  his  Delia  (I.  i)  are  thought  by  Mr.  Fleay  to  be 
Daniel  and  Elizabeth  Carey,5  but  this  is  hardly  possible,  since 
Tibullus  is  one  of  the  "gallants  "  of  Horace  (III.  i),  and  is  his 
friend  (V.  i).  Daniel,  as  we  know,  was  a  man  against  whom 
Jonson  was  bitterly  hostile.  The  allusion  to  Delia  is  a  genuine 
classical  allusion,  as  the  works  of  Tibullus  are  full  of  lines 
addressed  to  "  Delia,"  a  name  given  to  Plautia.  Mr.  Fleay 
has  expressed  his  opinion  that    Hermogenes   Tigellius,   "  the 


1  In  the  Apologetical  Dialogue,  first  published  in  1616,  but  doubtless  written 
soon  after  the  performance  of  the  play  in  1601. 

-  In  the  will  of  Marston's  father,  printed  by  Dr.  Grosart  (Introduction  to  Mars- 
ton's  Poems),  is  the  following  passage :  "  to  sd.  son  John  my  furniture  &c.  in  my 
chambers  in  the  Middle  Temple  my  law  books  &c.  to  my  sd.  son  whom  I  hoped 
would  have  profited  by  them  in  the  study  of  the  law  but  man  proposeth  and  God 
disposeth,  &c."     This  will  was  proved  Nov.  29,  1 599. 

3  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  367. 

4  Shakespeare  and  Jonson,  Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats,  p.  6 ;  see  also  The 
North  British  Review,  July,  1870,  p.  410,  "That  Shakespeare  was  meant  by  Ovid 
there  can  be  little  doubt."  5  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  367. 


POETASTER.  IO9 

excellent  musician  "  (II.  1)  and  an  enemy  of  Horace,  is  probably 
Daniel,  and  for  this  there  is  some  evidence.1 

Virgil,  to  whom  is  assigned  a  noble  character,  has  been 
thought  to  be  either  Shakespeare  2  or  Chapman.3  The  evidence 
seems  to  favor  the  latter  identification,  although  we  cannot  be 
sure  that  it  is  correct.  Gallus,  a  friend  of  Horace  (III.  1),  is 
a  warrior  and  also  a  poet  (V.  1).  He  may  be  the  Gallus  upon 
whom  Davies  wrote  his  Epigram.4 


1  After  proving  that  Hedon  is  Daniel,  Mr.  Fleay  says:  "  It  seems  probable  .  .  . 
that  Hedon  and  Anaides  .  .  .  are  the  same  personages  ...  as  Hermogenes 
Tigellius  and  Crispinus  in  The  Poetaster"  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  97  ; 
but  on  p.  368,  "  Hermogenes  is  a  musician,  but  not  a  poet  (is  he  meant  for  John 
Daniel?)."  There  was  a  John  Daniel,  music-master,  but  whether  this  was  the 
fatheror  the  brother  of  Samuel  Daniel  is  an  undecided  question.  (See  Daniel, 
ed.  Grosart,  Memorial  Introduction,  I.xii.)  Horace  aimed  Sat.  I.  10  at  Demetrius 
and  Hermogenes  Tigellius,  and  if  Jonson  gave  the  latter  name  to  his  enemy, 
Daniel,  he  was  following  his  classical  model. 

2  Gifford  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  Virgil  was  meant  for  Shakespeare.  Ben 
Jonson,  ed.  Gifford,  II.  502. 

3  Dr.  Cartwright  identified  Virgil  with  Chapman  {Shakespeare  and  Jonson, 
Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats,  p.  6),  a  view  shared  by  Professor  Ward  (  A  His- 
tory of  English  Dramatic  Literature,  I.  565),  by  Mr.  Fleay  {Chronicle  of  the  English 
Drama,  I.  367),  and  by  Professor  Herford  {Ben  Jonson,  Mermaid  edition,  Intro- 
duction, I.  xxxiii). 

XX I V.     In  Galium. 
Gallas  hath  beene  this  summer-time  in  Friesland 
And  now  return'd  he  speaks  such  warlike  words, 
As,  if  I  could  their  English  understand, 
I  feare  me  they  would  cut  my  throat  like  swords : 
He  talkes  of  counter-scarfes  and  casomates, 
Of  parapets,  of  curteneys.  and  palizadoes  ; 
Of  flankers,  ravelings,  gabions  he  prates. 
And  of  false-braves,  and  sallies  and  scaladoes. 
But.  to  requite  such  gulling  tearmes  as  these, 
With  words  of  my  profession  I  reply: 
I  tell  of  fourching,  vouchers,  and  counterpleas, 
Of  witliermans  essoynes,  and  champaity. 

So  neither  of  us  understanding  one  another. 

We  part  as  wise  as  when  we  came  together. 

Sir  John  Davies,  ed.  Grosart,  II.  23. 

Mr.  Fleay  suggests  to  the  writer  that  perhaps  this  epigram  referred  to  Hen  Jon- 
son, who,  in  Poetaster,  shifted  the  application  to  some  one  else. 


IIO  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Tucca  is  another  version  of  Bobadil  and  Shift.  Albius  and 
Chloe  are  friends  of  Crispinus,  who,  at  their  house,  sings  his 
song  (II.  i)  as  does  also  Hermogenes.  Crispinus  sings  another 
song  (IV.  i)  and  Albius  sings  (IV.  3)  with  Hermogenes  and 
Crispinus.  Albius  and  Chloe,  as  has  been  remarked,1  are  prob- 
ably the  same  persons  as  Deliro  and  Fallace  {Every  Man  out  of 
his  Humour),  and  the  citizen  and  his  wife  {Cynthia  s  Revels). 
Mr.  Fleay  thinks,  "Deliro  possibly  Monday."2  If  this  were 
true,  then  Albius  also  would  be  Monday,  but  we  have  seen  that 
Deliro  is  not  Monday,  who  appears  in  Every  Man  out  of  his 
Humour  as  Puntarvolo. 

The  first  half  of  Act  III.  consists  of  a  dramatization  of 
Horace  (Sat.  I.  9),  and  it  is  here  that  Horace  first  appears  in 
the  play.  He  is  bored  by  the  persistent  attentions  of  Cris- 
pinus, from  whom  even  the  meeting  with  Fuscus  Aristius3 
fails  to  bring  relief.  When  Crispinus  is  arrested  by  the  lictors 
at  the  instigation  of  Minos,  Horace  is  enabled  to  escape  from 
his  tormentor,  and  the  remainder  of  the  act  is  concerned  with 
Crispinus,  Tucca,  the  Pyrgi,  and  Histrio  ;  at  the  close  of  the 
act  Demetrius  appears.  Crispinus  was  identified  for  the  lic- 
tors by  his  "ash-coloured  feather."   Rufus  Laberius  Crispinus4 


1  Above,  p.  65. 

2  Chro»ide  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  360. 

3  Fuscus  (swarthy)  Aristius  is  mentioned  as  a  dear  friend  by  Horace  in  his 
Satire,  so  there  is  probably  no  allusion  in  this  character  to  any  contemporary  of 
Jonson's.  It  may  be  worth  mentioning,  however,  that  Drayton,  a  friend  of  Jon- 
son's,  speaks  of  himself,  in  his  Leo-end  of  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  as  having 
a  "  swart  and  melancholy  face." 

4  Laberius  Decimus,  a  writer  of  mimes,  mentioned  by  Horace  {Sat.  I.  10,  6), 
is  criticised  by  Aulus  Gellius  (XVI.  cap.  7),  the  subject  of  the  chapter  being 
Quod  Laberius  verba  pleraque  licentius  petulantiusque  finxit :  quod  multis  item  ver- 
bis utitur,  de  quibus  an  sit  Latina  quaeri  solet.  Gellius,  Delph.  et  Var.,  II.  892. 
The  name  Laberius  was  peculiarly  appropriate  to  Marston.  Crispinus  was  ridi- 
culed by  Horace  {Serm.  I.  1,  120)  :  Ne  me  Crispin/'  scrinia  lippi  compilasse putes, 
verbum  non  amplius  addam.  To  these  two  names,  in  themselves  sufficiently  con- 
temptuous, Jonson  added  Rufus. 


POETASTER.  I  I  I 

seems  to  be  a  name  invented  by  Jonson  to  show  his  contempt 
for  Marston.  The  hair  of  Crispinus  is  ridiculed  several  times 
in  the  play,  as,  for  example  (II.  i),  when  Crispinus  expresses 
a  desire  to  be  a  poet :  — 

Chloe.  And  shall  your  looks  change,  and  your  hair  change,  and  all,  like 
these  ? 

Crispinus.    Why,  a  man  may  be  a  poet,  and  yet  not  change  his  hair,  lady. 

Chloe.  Well,  we  shall  see  your  cunning  :  yet,  if  you  can  change  your 
hair,  I  pray  do. 

Another  personal  allusion  to  Marston  is  the  constant  ridicule 
of  the  fact  that  he  was  of  gentle  birth. 

Chloe.    Are  you  a  gentleman  born? 

Crispinus.    That  I  am,  lady  ;  you  shall  see  mine  arms  if  it  please  you. 
Chloe.    No,  your  legs  do  sufficiently  shew  you  are  a  gentleman  born,  sir ; 
for  a  man  borne  upon  little  legs  is  always  a  gentleman  born.1 

In  the  following  passages  also  Crispinus  boasts  of  his  gentility. 

Crispinus.  Gramercy,  good  Horace.  Nay,  we  are  new  turned  poet,  too, 
which  is  more  ;  and  a  satirist,  too,  which  is  more  than  that  :  I  write  just  in 
thy  vein,  I.  I  am  for  your  odes,  or  your  sermons,  or  anything  indeed  ;  we 
are  a  gentleman  besides  ;  our  name  is  Rufus  Laberius  Crispinus  ;  we  are  a 
pretty  Stoic,  too. 

Horace.    To  the  proportion  of  your  beard,  I  think  it.  sir.2 

Tucca  {to  Histrio).  Go,  and  be  acquainted  with  him  [Crispinus]  then  ; 
he-  is  a  gentleman  parcel-poet,  you  slave  ;  his  father  was  a  man  of  worship. 
I  tell  thee.3 

Gifford  has  observed  that  Dekker,  in  The  G/tls  Horne-Booke, 
probably  refers,  in  the  following  passage,  to  these  various  per- 
sonal allusions  to  Marston  :  — 

Xow  Sir.  if  the  writer  be  a  fellow  that  hath  either  epigrammd  you,4  or 
hath  had  a  rlirt  at  your  mistris,5  or  hath  brought  either  your  feather,    or 


1  II.  i.      Little  legs  were  a  sign  of  gentle  birth;   see  above,  p.  72. 
'-'  III.  ..  »  III.  .. 

4  Jonson's  Epigrams  49,  68,  and  100,  all  on  Playwright,  probably  refer  to  Mar. -ton. 

5  The  mistress  of  Anaides  {Cynthia  s  Revels)  is  Moria  (folly). 


I  I  2  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

your  red-beard,  or  your  little  legs,  &c,  on  the  stage,  you  shall  disgrace  him 
worse  than  by  tossing  him  in  a  blancket,1  or  giving  him  the  bastinado  in  a 
Taverne,  if,  in  the  middle  of  his  play  (bee  it  Pastoral  or  Comedy,  Morall  or 
Tragedie)  you  rise  with  a  screwd  and  discontented  face  from  your  stool  to 
be  gone.'2 

Marston's  gentility  is  an  object  of  ridicule  in  the  passage 
(II.  i)  in  which  Crispinus  describes  his  coat  of  arms.3 

My  name  is  Crispinus  or  Cri-spinas4  indeed  ;  which  is  well  expressed  in 
my  arms  ;  a  face  crying  in  chief ;  and  beneath  it  a  bloody  toe  between  three 
thorns  pungent. 

Mr.  Fleay  says  of  this  :  "Marston,  as  well  as  Crispinus,  is 
here  indicated.  Mars  is  red,  or  bloody  (compare  Mars  ochre), 
and  toen  is  toes  :  together  forming  Marston.  Both  puns  are 
equally  bad."5  Dr.  Brinsley  Nicholson  thought  this  "a  gro- 
tesque description  of  the  true  arms  of  Marston  —  a  fesse  ermine 
between  three  fleurs  de  lis  argent.  As,  however,  it  would  have 
been  too  perilous  in  those  days  of  old  gentility  to  ridicule  too 
closely  or  markedly  an  honored  heraldic  device,  Jonson,  with 
viciously  spiteful  malice,  added  in  chief  'a  face  crying,'  and  in 
so  doing  managed  to  mark  out  his  opponent  more  distinctively. 
It  may  have  been  suggested  to  him  by  the  long  melancholy 
face  of  the  greyhound,  which  is,  I  believe,  the  Marston  crest  ; 
but  it  was  an  addition  which  became,  as  it  were,  a  new  and  per- 
sonal grant  to  the  holder  in  recognition  of  his  glorious  achieve- 
ment, in  that  he,  the  upholder  of  the  honor  of  an  old  coat,  had 


1  Horace  (Jonson)  is  in  Satiromastix  tossed  in  a  blanket,  as  a  punishment  for 
his  attacks  on  Crispinus  and  others. 

2  Dekker,  ed.  Grosart,  II.  253. 

3  Compare  the  description  of  Sogliardo's  arms,  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour, 
III.  1.     See  above,  p.  61. 

4  Dekker  parodies  this  in  Satiromastix  with  Crispin-asse.    Dekker,  reprint  Pear- 
son, I.  212. 

5  Shakespeare  Manual,  p.  312. 


POETASTER.  I  I  3 

taken,  like  Dekker,  a  public  beating."  1  Dr.  Grosart  expresses 
a  divergent  opinion  and  says  :  "  The  'arms  '  assigned  to  Cris- 
pinus  is  a  mere  '  canting  coat.'  and  not  very  creditable  fooling, 
with  reference  to  the  farcical  name,  and  not  corresponding 
with  Marston's  arms.  These  are  properly  blazoned  thus  : 
Sable,  a  fesse  dancettee  ermine  between  three  fleurs  de  lis 
argent.  Crest,  a  demi  greyhound  sable  gorged,  with  a  collar 
dancettee  ermine."2  Dr.  Grosart  doubts  Dr.  Nicholson's 
explanation,  "  that  the  fesse  dancettee  and  three  fleurs  de  lis 
in  Marston's  arms  gave  rise  to  Jonson's  conceit  and  parody, 
'a  bloody  toe  between  three  thorns.'  "3 

Attention  has  been  called  several  times 4  to  common  mis- 
takes concerning  Dekker's  connection  with  the  quarrel  of 
Jonson  and  Marston.  The  only  representation  of  Dekker  in 
Jonson's  plays  is  the  character  Demetrius  in  Poetaster.  He 
appears  for  the  first  time  at  the  close  of  Act  III.,  and  when  he 
enters  is  unknown  to  all  but  Histrio,  who  informs  Tucca  that 
the  stranger  is  "  one  Demetrius,  a  dresser  of  plays  about  the 
town  here  ;  we  have  hired  him  to  abuse  Horace,  and  bring 
him  in  in  a  play."  Tucca  had  only  a  short  time  before  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Histrio,  who  was  hailed  as  he  was  passing. 
Histrio  belongs  to  some  company  for  which  Demetrius  was  to 
write  a  play.  Crispinus  is  recommended  to  Histrio's  company 
by  Tucca.  Histrio  gives  as  a  reason  for  attacking  Horace, 
"  It  will  get  us  a  huge  deal  of  money."  An  examination  of 
Poetaster  shows  that  it  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  Jonson  did 
not  originally  intend  to  mention  Dekker,  with  whom  he  had  no 
quarrel,  but  that  after  Poetaster  was  well  advanced  in  prepara- 


1  Notes  and  Queries,  Series  4,  VII.  469.  The  public  beating  is  referred  to  by 
Jonson,  who  told  Drnmmond  that  "  he  beat  Marston."  Jonson's  Conversations 
with  Drutnmond,  pp.  II,  20. 

2  Marston's  Poems,  ed.  Grosart,  Introduction. 

3  ibid. 

4  Above,  pp.  46,  51. 


114  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

tion,  although  it  was  written  in  fifteen  weeks,  Jonson  learned 
of  the  plan  to  "  untruss  "  him,  and  in  order  to  forestall  the 
attack  added  the  lines  of  Demetrius.  The  omission  of  a  few 
lines  (III.  i),  and  the  alteration  of  a  few  others  (V.  i)  would 
eliminate  Demetrius  from  the  play  without  in  any  way  affecting 
the  play  as  an  arraignment  of  Marston,  the  "  poetaster,"  against 
whom  Jonson  had  been  bitterly  hostile  for  three  years.  Tucca 
suggests  to  Histrio  (III.  i)  that  Crispinus  shall  help  Demetrius 
in  the  preparation  of  his  play  attacking  Horace,  but  Histrio 
replies  that  Demetrius  can  do  it  "  impudently  enough."  .  .  . 
"  He  has  one  of  the  most  overflowing  rank  wits  in  Rome." 
Crispinus  declares  (IV.  4),  "I'll  write  nothing  in  it  but  inno- 
cence, because  I  may  swear  I  am  innocent."  Jonson  thus 
exonerates  Marston  from  any  share  in  the  actual  writing  of 
Satiromastix .  Dekker  was  the  "journeyman"  (IV.  4)  "hired 
to  abuse  Horace"  (III.  1),  but  Crispinus,  Tucca,  and  other 
enemies  of  Jonson  were  responsible  for  the  plan.  Dekker 
was  a  rapid  writer,1  well  known  as  a  "dresser  of  plays,"2 
and  this  was  probably  the  reason  he  was  selected  to  write  a 
reply  to  Poetaster'. 

The  fact  that  the  company  to  which  Histrio  belonged  had 
hired  Demetrius  to  abuse  Horace  in  a  play,  naturally  connects 
itself  with  the  fact  that  Dekker's  Satiromastix  was  performed 
by  the  Chamberlain's  company  at  the  Globe  Theatre.3  Tucca's 
remarks  to  Histrio  (III.  1)  are  significant  :  — 


1  T/ie  Seven  Deadly  Sins  of  London,  1606,  4to,  has  on  the  title-page  Dekker's 
boast,  Opus  septem  Dierum. 

2  Dekker's  name  appears  frequently  in  //ens/owe's  Diary  in  connection  with 
the  remodelling  of  old  plays. 

3  The  title-page  of  the  quarto  (1602)  states  that  Satiromastix  was  "  presented 
publikely,  by  the  Right  Honorable,  the  Lord  Chamberlaine  his  Servants ;  and 
privately,  by  the  Children  of  Paules."  The  latter  company  produced  Marston's 
plays,  Jack  Drum,  Antonio  and  Mellida,  and  Antonio's  Revenge.  Histrio  was  not 
one  of  the  "  Children  of  Paules,"  for,  if  he  had  been,  Tucca  would  not  have  needed 
to  introduce  Crispinus,  or  offer  his  services. 


POETASTER.  I  I  5 

I  hear  you'll  bring  me  o'  the  stage  there  ;  you'll  play  me,  they  say  ;  I 
shall  be  presented  by  a  sort  of  copper-laced  scoundrels  of  you  ;   life  of  Pluto! 

an  you  stage  me.  stinkard,  your  mansions  shall  sweat  for't,  your  tabernacles, 
varlets,  your  (.lobes,  and  your   Triumphs. 

Tucca  was  brought  on  the  stage  at  the  Globe  in  Satiromastix. 
When  Tucca  told  Histrio  (III.  i)  :  "they  say  you  have  nothing 
but  Humours,  Revels,  and  Satires,"  ret  erring  to  Jonson's  plays, 
Histrio  replied  :  "  No,  I  assure  you,  captain,  not  we.  They 
are  on  the  other  side  of  Tyber."  Although  Jonson's  livery 
Man  in  his  Humour  and  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour  were 
produced  by  the  Chamberlain's  company,  the  former  at  the 
Curtain,  the  latter  at  the  Globe,  yet  Jonson's  next  play, 
Cynthia  s  Revels,  was  produced  at  Blackfriars,  his  connection 
with  the  Chamberlain's  company  having  ceased.  Histrio,  if  a 
member  of  the  Chamberlain's  company,  was  correct  in  saying 
that  the  "  Humours,  Revels,  and  Satires  "  were  now  "  on  the 
other  side  of  Tyber."  Tucca  and  the  two  Pyrgi  belonged  to 
another  company  for  which  Crispinus  was  a  writer.  This  com- 
pany may  have  been  the  Children  of  Paul's,  for  whom  Marston 
had  been  writing.  Histrio  and  yEsop  (who  is  punished  V.  i) 
belong  to  some  company  hostile  to  Horace.  That  this  was 
probably  the  same  company  as  Sir  Oliver  Owlet's  men  in  His- 
triomastix1  is  indicated  by  Jonson's  applying  to  Histrio's  com- 
pany the  lines  sung  by  the  players  in  Histriomasiix :  — 

Besides  we  that  travel,  with  pumps  full  of  gravel, 
Made  all  of  such  running  leather, 
That  once  in  a  week,  new  masters  we  seeke, 
•    And  never  can  hold  together.'2 

Tucca  says  to  Histrio  (III.  i)  :  — 

If  he  [Crispinus]  pen  for  thee  once,  thou  shalt  not  need  to  travel  with 
thy  pumps  full  of  gravel  any  more,  after  a  blind  jade  and  a  hamper,  and 
stalk  upon  boards  and  barrel  heads  to  an  old  cracked  trumpet. 


1  See  above,  pp.  34,  42.  -  Histriomasiix,  II.  11.  251-254. 


Il6  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Histrio's  company  "  have  Fortune  and  the  good  year  "  on  their 
side,  a  remark  applicable  to  the  connection  between  the  Ad- 
miral's company  and  the  Fortune  Theatre,  but  Tucca  mentions 
the  Globe,  at  which  he  was  actually  "presented."  Critics  are 
divided  in  their  opinions  as  to  the  identity  of  Histrio's  com- 
pany, and  the  same  two  views  are  held  as  in  the  case  of  Sir 
Oliver  Owlet's  men.  Mr.  Fleay  maintains1  that  Histrio  was  a 
member  of  Pembroke's  company,  while  Professor  Wood,2  adopt- 
ing the  view  of  Simpson,3  argues  to  prove  that  Histrio  belonged 
to  the  Chamberlain's  men. 

The  story  of  Ovid  and  Julia  is  made  prominent  in  Act  IV., 
and  the  balcony  scene  between  Ovid  and  Julia  reminds  the 
reader  of  the  similar  scene  in  Romeo  and  Juliet* 

The  last  act  of  Poetaster  contains  Jonson's  final  attack  on 
Marston.  Crispinus,  the  "brisk  Poetaster,"  and  Demetrius, 
"  his  poor  journeyman,"  are  arraigned  before  Caesar  for  their 
attacks  on  Horace.  The  indictment  is  read  and  the  accused 
plead  "  not  guilty."  Papers  are  produced  which  Crispinus  and 
Demetrius  acknowledge  having  written.  The  lines  which  Cris- 
pinus admits  are  his,  are  taken  from  Antonio  and  Mcllida,  Anto- 
nio s  Revenge,  Satires,  The  Scourge  of  Vi/tanie,  and  Jack  Drum. ,5 
Demetrius  admits  having  written  some  lines  which  are,  as 
Gifford  remarks,  "assuredly  meant  to    ridicule  the  loose  and 

1  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  368  ;  see  also  ibid.,  II.  70,  71,  and  History 
of  the  Stage,  Fleay,  pp.  137,  138,  158. 

2  See  above,  p.  34,  note  3. 

3  See  The  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  1 1,  89. 

4  It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  reasoning  by  which  Dr.  Cartwright  reached 
the  following  conclusion  :  "  That  there  may  be  no  mistake,  that  Ovid  is  and  shall 
be  Shakespeare,  the  whole  of  the  last  scene  in  the  fourth  act  is  a  parody  on  the 
third  and  fifth  scenes  in  the  third  act  of  Romeo  and  Juliet.'''  Shakespeare  and  Jon- 
son,  Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats,  p.  6. 

5  Gifford  identified  the  passages  from  Marston's  works,  except  those  horn  Jack 
Drum,  which  are  given  by  Simpson.  School  of  Shakspere,  II.  128.  Gifford  has 
noted  also  the  ridicule  of  Marston's  style  in  the  lines  spoken  by  the  two  Pyrgi  in 
Act  III.     (See  Ben  fonson,  ed.  Gifford,  II.  457,  517-530.) 


POETASTER.  I  I  7 

desultory  style  of  Dekker  ;  though  here,  too,  something  of  Mai 
ston  is  suffered  to  appear."     Satiromastix,  or  the  Untrussing  of 
the  Humorous   Port  is  referred  to  in  the  lines  of  Demetrius  :  — 

Our  Muse  is  in  mind  for  th'  untrussing  a  poet, 
I  slip  by  his  name  for  most  men  do  know  it : 
A  critic  that  all  the  world  bescumbers 
With  Satirical  humours  and  lyrical  numbers. 
And  for  the  most  part  himself  doth  advance 
With  much  self-love,  and  more  arrogance. 
And,  but  that  I  would  not  be  thought  a  prater, 
I  could  tell  you  lie  were  a  translator. 
I  know  the  authors  from  whence  he  has  stole, 
And  could  trace  him  too1  but  that  I  understand 

them  not  full  and  whole. 
The  best  note  I  can  give  you  to  know  him  by. 
Is,  that  he  keeps  gallants'  company  : 
Whom  I  could  wish,  in  time  should  him  fear, 
Lest  after  they  buy  repentance  too  dear. 

In  this  passage  Jonson  anticipates  the  charges  made  against 
him  in  Satiromastix.  Crispinus  and  Demetrius  are  found  guilty 
of  having  slandered  Horace.  Before  sentence  is  pronounced, 
Horace  is  permitted  by  Caesar  to  give  to  Crispinus  an  emetic  pill. 

Marston's  vocabulary  had  been  an  object  of  ridicule  to  Jonson 
ever  since  Marston's  attack  on  the  "new-minted  epithets,"2  but 
no  former  ridicule  was  so  severe  as  that  contained  in  the  scene 
in  which  the  emetic  pill  produces  the  desired  effect  on  Cris- 
pinus, who,  like  Lexiphanes,  disgorges  the  words  that  character- 
ized his  literary  style.  Many  of  the  words  here  ridiculed  by 
Jonson  have  been  identified  in  Marston's  works.3 


1  See  above,  p.  79.  This  is  the  same  charge  that  was  made  by  Anaides  in 
Cynthia's  Revels,  III.  2.  2  See  above,  p.  4. 

8  Crispinus  disgorged  in  all  thirty  words,  some  of  which  were  used  in  phrases. 
Twenty  of  the  words  are  to  be  found  in  The  Scourge  of  Villanie,  Jack  Drum,  An- 
tonio and  Mellida,  and  Antonio's  Revenge.  For  a  list  of  passages  in  which  these 
words  are  used,  see  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  Fleay,  II-  73-  The  following 
words  have  not  been  found  in  Marston's  works :  retrograde,  spurious,  inflate,  tur- 
gidous,  ventosity,  oblatrant,  furibund,  fatuate,  proruniped,  obstupefact.      "  Retro- 


I  1 8  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Sentence  is  pronounced  on  Crispinus  and  Demetrius,  but  for 
the  latter  Horace  has  asked  mercy.  "  The  oath  for  good  be- 
haviour "  is  administered  to  both,  and  they  are  made  to  swear 
that  they  will  never  again  "malign,  traduce,  or  detract  the 
person  or  writings  of  Quintus  Horatius  Flaccus,  or  any  other 
eminent  man."  They  are  forbidden  ambitiously  to  affect  "  the 
title  of  the  Untrussers  or  Whippers  of  the  Age."  The  men 
put  under  oath  not  to  attack  Horace  are  the  two  men,  Marston 
and  Dekker,  who  attacked  Jonson  in  plays. 

Poetaster  is  Jonson's  acknowledged  reply  to  the  numerous 
attacks  that  had  been  made  upon  him  during  a  period  of  three 
years.1  In  this  play  Jonson  anticipated  and  replied  to  the 
charges  brought  against  him  in  Dekker's  Satiromastix,  a  play 
at  that  time  not  yet  acted.  So  far  as  Jonson  was  concerned 
"The  War  of  the  Theatres"  was  ended,  although  peace  was 
not  declared.  Satiromastix  was  a  direct  reply  to  all  of  Jonson's 
early  satirical  comedies,  while  in  Marston's  What  You  Will,  we 
can  still  hear,  as  it  were,  the  rumbling  of  the  storm  which  had 
just  passed  over.  Marston  and  Jonson  both  contributed  to 
Chester's  Love 's  Martyr,  1601.  In  1604  Jonson  and  Marston 
collaborated  with  Chapman  in  the  writing  of  Eastzvard  Ho,  a 
play  for  which  they  all  went  to  jail,2  and  in  the  same  year  we 
find  Marston  dedicating  his  Malcontent,  "  Benjamino  Jonsonio, 
poetae  elegantissimo,  gravissimo,  amico  suo,  candido  et  cordato." 


grade  "  is  ridiculed  several  times  by  Jonson.  It  is  one  of  the  words  of  Amorphus, 
who  says  to  Morphides,  "  You  must  be  retrograde.'1''  Cynthia's  Revels,  V.  2. 
Drayton,  in  his  Elegy  Of  his  Lady's  not  coming  to  London,  says,  "or  you  delight 
else  to  be  retrograde."  The  word  was  evidently  in  not  uncommon  use,  for  we  find 
A  Booke  of  the  Seven  Planets,  or  seven  ivandring  motives  of  William  Alablaster's 
Wit  Retrograded  or  removed  by  John  Racster  1598.  "  Reciprocal,"  a  word  ridi- 
culed by  Jonson  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  IV.  4,  and  Cynthia's  Revels,  I. 
1,  and  IV.  1,  is  used  by  Marston  in  The  Malcontent  (1604),  II.  2.  "  Ventosity  "  is 
one  of  Clove's  "fustian"  expressions  in  Every  Man  out  of his  Humour,  III.  I. 
See  above,  p.  51. 

1  See  Apologetical  Dialogue.  2  See  above. p.  105,  note  2. 


IX. 
SATIROMASTIX. 

Satiromastix,  written  by  Dekker  at  the  instigation  of 
Marston  and  others,  who  had  been  satirized  by  Jonson,  was  a 
reply  to  Poetaster}  It  seems  probable  that  Dekker  was  at 
work  on  a  play  dealing  with  the  story  of  Sir  Walter  Terill, 
when  Marston  suggested  the  immediate  reply  to  Jonson's 
play.  Horaee,  Crispinus,  Demetrius,  Tucca,  and  Asinius 2 
are  borrowed  from  Poetaster,  and  are  quite  out  of  place  in 
Dekker's  play,  the  scene  of  which  is  at  the  court  of 
William  Rufus.  It  is  perfectly  evident  that  the  "  Untrussing 
of  the  Humorous  Poet  "  was  no  part  of  Dekker's  original 
design. 

When  Jonson  referred  to  Dekker  as  a  "play-dresser"  and 
"  journeyman  "  8  poet,  he  used  terms  which  were  particularly 
applicable  to  the  author  of  Satiromastix.  Attempts  to  iden- 
tify William  Rufus,4  Sir  Rees  ap  Yaughan,  and  other  characters 


1  The  Chamberlain's  company,  which  produced  Satiromastix  in  1601,  after 
Poetaster,  had  presented  Every  Man  out  of  his  Hum  our,  the  first  play  of  Jonson's 
in  which  Marston  was  attacked.  Jonson's  next  two  plays  were  produced  by  the 
Chapel  children  at  Hlackfriars. 

2  Asinius  Bubo  in  Satiromastix  is  not  the  same  character  as  Asinius  Lupus 
in  Poetaster.     The  name,  however,  was  borrowed  by  Dekker. 

■'  Poetaster,  V.  1;  IV,  4. 

1  Reference  has  been  made  several  times  to  absurd  identifications  of  characters 
in  the  various  plays  discussed.  Shakespeare  has  been  identified  by  critics  in  at 
least  one  character  in  almost  every  play.  The  writer  in  /'//,■  North  British  Review 
(July,  1S70,  p.  4 16)  thinks  Shakespeare  is  represented  as  William  Rufus  in  Satiro- 


120  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

than  those  borrowed  from  Poetaster,  leave  out  of  consideration 
the  fact  that  there  is  no  real  connection  between  the  two  sets 
of  characters.  In  the  present  discussion  we  are  concerned 
only  with  those  portions  of  the  play  in  which  Jonson  is  ridi- 
culed as  Horace.  Attention  has  been  called  to  the  mistakes 
concerning  Dekker's  connection  with  "  The  War  of  the  The- 
atres." 1  It  is  noticeable  that  Demetrius  (Dekker)  takes  no 
part  in  the  abuse  of  Horace,  a  task  left  almost  wholly  to  Tucca. 
Many  of  the  lines  of  Demetrius  express  admiration  for  the 
really  good  qualities  of  Horace  —  an  admiration  which  was 
probably  genuine  on  the  part  of  Dekker.  The  three  comedies 
in  which  Jonson  attacked  Marston  are  each  referred  to  several 
times. 

Jonson's  Epigrams  are  mentioned  frequently, 2  and  his 
Epithalamiums,  of  which  we  have  three  examples,  are  also 
spoken  of  in  several  passages.3 

Jonson's  experience  as  a  bricklayer  was  not  forgotten  by  his 
enemies,  and  in  Satiromastix  he  is  twitted  with  it  :  — 


mastix-  Dr.  Cartwright  says:  "  William  Rufus,  'learning's  true  Maecenas,  poesy's 
king,'  it  may  be  presumed,  was  the  ignorant  William  Shakespeare.  .  .  .  The  wits 
of  Elizabeth  were  not  asleep.  In  this  comedy  Shakespeare  is  King  William  and 
Lyly  is  Sir  Vaughan  ap  Rees :  the  remark  of  Tucca,  '  be  not  so  tart  my  precious 
Metheglin,'  identifies  Lyly  with  Amorphus,  reminding  us  of  the  Metheglin  and 
4  Pythagoricall  breeches  '  in  Cynthia's  Revels."  Shakespeare  and  Jonson,  Dramatic 
versus  Wit  Combats,  p.  52.  In  Manninghains  Diary,  p.  39,  Camden  Society 
publications,  is  an  anecdote  showing  that  William  the  Conqueror  was,  on  at 
least  one  occasion,  a  nickname  of  Shakespeare. 

1  See  above,  pp.  46,  51,  67,  68,  70,  107,  1 13. 

2  Dekker,  I.;  Satiromastix,  pp.  195,  212,221,  241.  (All  references  to  Satiro- 
mastix are  to  the  pages  in  the  edition  published  by  Pearson  in  1873.  The  play 
is  not  divided  into  acts  and  scenes.)  Cf.  Jonson's  Epigrams  on  Playwright 
(Marston),  49,  6S,  100;  True  Soldiers,  108  (also  in  Apologetical  Dialogue 
appended  to  Poetaster);  Shift,  12;  Poet- Ape,  56. 

3  Satiromastix,  pp.  190,  192,  215,  241.  The  three  Epithalamiums  of  Jon- 
son's that  we  have  are  Unde?-7i<oods  gj  Epithalamium,  celebrating  the  nuptials 
of  Mr.  Hierome  Weston  and  Lady  Frances  Stewart,  and  the  two  contained  in  The 
Masque  of  Hymen  and  The  Hue  and  Cry  after  Cupid. 


SATIR0MA5TIX.  121 

Asinius  (to  Horace).  Nay,  I  ha  more  news,  ther's  Crispinus  and  his 
Jornevman  Poet  Demetrius  Fannius1  too,  they  sweare  they'll  bring  your 
life  and  death  upon'th  stage  like  a  Bricklayer  in  a  play.9 

Tucca  calls  Horace  a  "poor  lyme  and  hayrc  rascall,"  3  and 
a  "  foule-fisted  Morter-treader." 4 

Sir  Vaughan  (to  Horace).  Two  urds  Horace  about  your  eares:  how- 
chance  it  passes,  that  you  bid  God  boygh  to  an  honest  trade  of  building 
Symneys,  and  laying  downe  Brickes,  for  a  worse  handicraftnes,  to  make 
nothing  but  railes;5 

When  it  is  suggested  that  Horace  be  tossed  in  a  blanket, 
Tucca  asks  him  :  — 

.   .  .  dost  stampe  mad  Tamberlaine,  dost  stampe  ?    thou  thinkst  th'ast 
Morter  under  thy  feete,  dost?6 

A  pun  is  intended  in  the  following  :  — 

Sir  Vaughan.  Horace  and  Bubo,  pray  send  an  answere  into  his  Majes- 
ties eares  why  you  go  thus  in  Ovid's  Morter-Morphesis  and  strange  fashions 
of  apparell.7 

The  fact  that  Jonson  was  saved  from  hanging  by  being  able 
to  "con  his  neck-verse,"  after  he  had  been  sentenced  for  kill- 
ing in  a  duel  Gabriel  Spencer,  a  player,8  is  thus  alluded  to  by 
Dekker:  — 


1  Dekker  refers  several  times  to  titles  given  by  Jonson  to  Crispinus  and  Deme- 
trius. Horace  says:  "As  for  Crispinus, that  Crispin-asse,  and  Fannius,  his  play- 
dresser"  (Satiromastix,  p.  212).  Jonson  interpreted  Crispinus  as  "  Cri-spinas  " 
(see  above,  p.  112),  and  this  is  Dekker's  retort.  Demetrius  (Dekker)  is  called 
"  a  dresser  of  plays  "  (Poetaster,  III.  1)  and  "  play-dresser  "  (Poetaster,  V.  1). 

2  Satiromastix,  p.  195.  For  the  allusion  to  bringing  Jonson  on  the  stage,  see 
Poetaster,  III.  1,  and  IV.  4. 

8  ibid.,  p.  199.  Emulo,  in  Patient  Grissil.  II.  1,  is  asked  :  "  Where's  the  lime 
and  hair  ?  "     See  above,  p.  68.  ''  ibid. 

4  ibid.,  p.  234.  '  ibid.,  p.  25S. 

5  ibid.,  p.  243.  "  Sic  above,  p.  7. 


122  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Asinius  (to  Horace).  Answere,  as  God  judge  me  N ingle,  for  thy  wit 
thou  mayst  answer  any  Justice  of  peace  in  England  I  warrant  ;  thou 
writ'st  in  a  most  goodly  big  hand  too,  I  like  that,  I  readst  as  leageably 
as  some  that  have  bin  sav'd  by  their  neck-verse.1 

Tucca.  The  best  verse  that  ever  I  knew  him  hacke  out,  was  his  white 
neck-verse.2 

Tucca  (to  Horace).  Holde,  holde  up  thy  hand,  I  ha  seene  the  day  thou 
didst  not  scorne  to  hold  up  thy  golles.3 

This  is  evidently  a  reference  to  Jonson's  trial  for  murder. 
When  the  indictment  was  read  the  accused  had  to  hold  up 
his  hands.  We  have  here  also  a  reply  to  the  treatment  of 
Crispinus  and  Demetrius  in  Poetaster  (V.  I),  where  they  are 
made  to  "hold  up  their  spread  golls."  Horace  is  made  to  do 
what  he  had  made  others  do. 

Tucca  (to  Horace).  Art  not  famous  enough  yet,  my  mad  Horastratus, 
for  killing  a  Player,  but  thou  must  eate  men  alive  ? 4 

Tucca  (to  Horace).  Thou  art  the  true  arraign'd  Poet,  and  shouldst  have 
been  hang'd,  but  for  one  of  these  part-takers,  these  charitable  Copper-lac'd 
Christians  that  fetcht  thee  out  of  Purgatory  (Players  I  meane)  Theate- 
rians  pouch-mouth,  Stage-walkers;5 

Sir  Vaughan  (to  Horace).  Inprimis,  you  shall  sweare  by  Phoebus  and 
the  halfe  a  score  Muses  lacking  one  :  not  to  sweare  to  hang  your  selfe,  if 
you  thought  any  Man,  Ooman  or  Silde,  could  write  Playes  and  Rimes,  as 
well-favour'd  ones  as  your  selfe. 

Tucca.    Well  sayd,  hast  brought  him  toth  gallowes  already.6 

Crispinus  (to  Horace).      .  .  .  were  thy  warpt  soule,  put  in  a  new  molde 
Ide  weare  thee  as  a  Jewell  set  in  golde. 

Sir  Vaughan.    And  Jewels,  Master  Horace,  must  be  hang'd  you  know.7 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  194.  3  ibid.,  p.  203. 

2  ibid.,  p.  241.  4  ibid.,  p.  234. 

5  ibid.,  p.  244.  It  is  thought  by  some  that  the  allusion  is  to  Jonson's  difficul- 
ties in  consequence  of  his  duel,  and  that  it  was  through  the  intervention  of  Shake- 
speare that  he  was  released.  See  Collier's  Memoirs  of  Actors,  p.  xx,  Shakespeare 
Society  publications;  also  Early  London  Theatres,  T.  Fairman  Ordish,  pp.  190-3. 
There  is  no  proof  that  Shakespeare  was  the  man,  although  he  may  have  been. 

6  Satiromastix,  p.  261.  "  ibid.,  p.  245. 


SA  TIROMASTIX.  123 

Jonson  served  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  this  is  referred  to 
by  Sir  Quintilian,  who  asks,  concerning  Horace  :  — 

What  Gentleman  is  this  in  the  Mandilian,  a  soldyer? 

To  this  question  Sir  Vaughan  replies  :  — 

No,  tho  he  has  a  very  bad  face  for  a  souldier,  yet  he  has  as  desperate  a 
wit  as  ever  any  Scholler  went  to  cuffes  for  ;  ' 

The  "bad  face"  was  Jonson's  "  rocky-face,"  as  he  called  it  in 
the  lines  on  My  Picture  Left  in  Scotland? 

Another  reference  to  Jonson's  having  been  a  soldier,  and 
also  to  his  having  killed  his  adversary  in  a  duel,  is  the  warning 
of  Horace  to  Tucca,  "  Holde  Capten,  tis  knowne  that  Horace 
is  valliant  and  a  man  of  the  sword."3  This  is  a  quotation 
from  Poetaster  (IV.  4)  where  Pyrgus  tells  Tucca,  "  Horace  is 
a  man  of  the  sword,"  and  Crispinus  adds,  "They  say  he's 
valiant."  Jonson's  career  as  an  actor  is  referred  to  by  Tucca 
on  two  occasions. 

Horace.    No  Captaine,  lie  weare  anything. 

Tucca.  I  know  thou  wilt,  I  know  th'  art  an  honest  low  minded  Pigmey, 
for  I  ha  seene  thy  shoulders  lapt  in  a  Plaiers  old  cast  Cloake,  like  a  She 
knave  as  thou  art  :  and  when  thou  ranst  mad  for  the  death  of  Horatio  :  4 
thou  borrowedst  a  gowne  of  Roscius  the  Stager  (that  honest  Nicodemus) 
and  sentest  it  home  lowsie,  didst  not?5 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  215. 

2  Underwoods,  VII.  Jonson's  face  is  a  subject  of  jest  elsewhere.  Dicace  says: 
"  That  same  Horace  me  thinkes  has  the  most  ungodly  face,  by  my  Fan  ;  it  lookes 
for  all  the  world,  like  a  rotten  russet  Apple,  when  tis  bruiz'd."  Miniver  declares, 
"  Its  cake  and  pudding  to  me  to  see  his  face  make  faces,  when  hee  reades  his 
Songs  and  Sonnets."  Satiromastix,  p.  241.  "  Horace  [i.e.,  Roman  Horace]  had 
not  his  face  puncht  full  of  Oylet-holes,  like  the  cover  of  a  warming-pan." 
Ibid.,  p.  260. 

8  Satiroviastix,  p.  234.  Jonson  killed  "  ane  enemie  "  in  the  Low  Countries,  an 
incident  which  is  included  in  the  reference  here,  /otison's  Conversations  with 
Drummond,  p.  18.     See  above,  p.  7. 

4  Hieronimo  becomes  mad  after  the  death  of  Horatio  in  The  Spanish  Tragedy 
II.     Jonson  acted  the  part  of  Hieronimo.  6  Satiromastix,  p.  202. 


124  THE    WAR    0F    THE    THEATRES. 

In  another  passage  Tucca  says  to  Horace  :  "Thou  hast  been 
at  Parris  garden  hast  not  ?  "  and  Horace  replies,  "  Yes  Cap- 
taine,  I  ha  plaide  Zulziman  there." 

Tucca  remarks  :  — 

.  .  .  thou  hast  forgot  how  thou  amblest  (in  leather  pilch)  by  a  play- 
wagon,  in  the  high  way,  and  tooks't  mad  Jeronimoes  part,  to  get  service 
among  the  Mimickes:  1 

The  fact  that  Jonson  was  at  this  time  a  Roman  Catholic2 
is  thus  noticed  by  Dekker,  who  makes  Tucca  say  to  Horace  ,— 

Nay,  I  smell  what  breath  is  to  come  from  thee,  thy  answer  is,  that  there 's 
no  faith  to  be  helde  with  Heritickes  and  Infidels,  and  therfore  thou  swear'st 
anie  thing:3 

The  meaning  of  the  speeches  about  baldness  is  unknown, 
unless  indeed  there  be  in  them  an  allusion  to  Jonson's  licen- 
tiousness.4    The  identity  of  Asinius  is  also  unknown. 

Most  of  the  allusions  in  Satiromastix  are  perfectly  clear  to 
any  one  familiar  with  Jonson's  early  comedies,  and  it  is  there- 
fore not  necessary  in  the  present  discussion  to  point  out  any 
but  the  most  important.  Some  of  the  purely  personal  refer- 
ences to  Jonson  have  been  mentioned,  and  we  proceed  to 
notice  next  those  passages  in  which  Dekker  replies  to  passages 
in  Jonson's  plays.  _  The  characters  in  which  Jonson  had  rep- 
resented himself  are  thus  referred  to :  — 

Tucca  (to  Horace).  No,  you  starv'd  rascal,  thou  't  bite  off  mine  eares 
then,  you  must  have  three  or  foure  suites  of  names,  when  like  a  lowsie  Pe- 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  229. 

2  Jonson  was  in  prison  in  consequence  of  his  duel  (1598).  "  Then  took  he  his 
religion  by  trust,  of  a  priest  who  visited  him  in  prisson.  Thereafter  he  was  12 
yeares  a  Papist."    Jonson'1  s  Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  19. 

3  Satiromastix,  p.  235. 

4  Mr.  Fleay  suggests  that  Gabriel  Harvey  "wrote  against  baldness:  this  may 
throw  some  light  on  the  Jonson  speech  in  Dekker's  Satiromastix."  Chronicle  of 
the  English  Drama,  II.  142. 


SATIROMASTIX.  1 25 

diculous  vermin  th'ast  but  one  suite  to  thy  backe:  you  must  be  call  'd  Asper, 
and  Criticus,  and  Horace,  thy  tytle's  longer  a  reading  then  the  Stile  a  the 
big  Turkes  :  Asper,1  Criticus,-  (hiintus  Hor.itius3  Flaccus.4 

The  titles  of  Every  Man  in  his  Humour  and  Every  Man  out 
of  his  Humour,  as  well  as  Jonson's  theory  of  "  humours,"  are 
glanced  at  in  the  epithet  "humorous,"  applied  to  Horace  by 
Dekker. 

The  general  relation  of  Jonson's  plays  to  the  times  is 
indicated  by  the  following  words  of  Tucca,  in  which  he  men- 
tions by  name  two  of  the  plays  :  — 

A  Gentleman  or  an  honest  Cittizen  shall  not  Sit  in  your  pennie-bench 
Theaters,  with  his  Squirrel  by  his  side  cracking  nuttes  ;  nor  sneake  into  a 
Taverne  with  his  Mermaid  ;  but  he  shall  be  Satyr'd  and  Epigram'd  upon, 
and  his  humour  must  run  upo'th  Stage:  you'll  ha  Every  Gentleman  in's 
humour,  and  Every  Gentleman  out  on  's  humour.6 

When  the  King  says,  "  True  poets  are  with  Arte  and 
Nature  Crownd,"  6  we  have  perhaps  a  reference  to  the  Pro- 
logue to  Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  in  which  Jonson  de- 
clares :  — 

Though  need  make  many  poets,  and  some  such 

As  art  and  nature  have  not  bettered  much  : 

Yet  ours  for  want  hath  not  so  loved  the  stage,  etc. 

Crispinus  says  that  Horace  "  calles  himselfe  the  whip  of 
men." 7  This  is  probably  an  allusion  to  the  Induction  of 
Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  in  which  Asper  declares  :  — 

.  .  .  with  an  armed  and  resolved  hand, 
I  '11  strip  the  ragged  follies  of  the  time 
Naked  as  at  their  birth   .   .  .  and  with  a  whip  of  steel. 
Print  wounding  lashes  in  their  iron  ribs. 

1  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour. 

2  Cynthia's  Revels,  quarto.     In  the  folio  the  name  is  Crites. 
8  Poetaster. 

4  Satiromastix,  p.  200.  6  ibid.,  p.  256. 

5  ibid.,  p.  234.  '  ibid. 


126  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Horace  is  threatened  with  having  to  "  sit  at  the  upper  ende 
of  the  Table,  a  'th  left  hand  of  Carlo  Buffon,"  1  a  fate  which 
shows  that  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  with  its  satire  on 
Marston,  as  Carlo,  was  not  forgotten.  The  Palinode,  sung 
by  the  disgraced  maskers  at  the  conclusion  of  Cynthia's  Revels, 
seems  to  have  been  greatly  resented,  for  it  is  alluded  to  several 
times  by  Dekker.  Horace  speaks  of  "  the  Palinode  which  I 
meane  to  stitch  to  my  Revels"  ;2  he  is  called  "Palinodicall 
rimester," 3  and  Sir  Vaughan  refers  to  the  "  Polinoddyes"  4 
and  "  Callin-oes."  5  The  oath  which  Horace  takes  at  the  end 
of  the  play  was  suggested  not  only  by  the  oath  administered 
to  Crispinus  and  Demetrius  in  Poetaster,  but  also  by  the 
Palinode.  Asinius  Bubo,  "Horace's  Ape,"  used  "  connive," 
and  was  ridiculed  for  it  by  his  barber,  who  said  :  — 

Master  Asinius  Bubo,  you  have  eene  Horaces  wordes  as  right  as  if  he 
had  spit  them  into  your  mouth.6 

As  Gifford  pointed  out,  the  word  "connive"  was  used  by 
other  dramatic  writers,  without  the  preposition."7  Jonson, 
however,  makes  Moria  say,  in  Cynthia  s  Revels  (IV.  i),  "there- 
fore there  is  more  respect  requirable  howsoe'er  you  seem  to 
connive." 

Jonson  wrote  in  the  Prologue  to  Cynthia  s  Revels  :  — 

Our  doubtful  author  hopes  this  is  their  sphere, 

And  therefore  opens  he  himself  to  those, 

To  other  weaker  beams  his  labours  close, 

As  loth  to  prostitute  their  virgin  strain, 

To  every  vulgar  and  adulterate  brain. 

In  this  alone,  his  Muse  her  sweetness  hath, 

She  shuns  the  print  of  any  beaten  path  ; 

And  proves  new  ways  to  come  to  learned  eares: 

1  Satiromastix,  p.  263.  4  ibid.,  p.  241. 

2  ibid.,  p.  194.  6  ibid.,  p.  260. 

3  ibid.,  p.  234.  6  ibid.,  p.  212. 

1  Jonson,  ed.  Gifford,  II.  300. 


SATIROMASTIX.  1 2~ 

Dekker  makes  Horace  say  :  — 

That  we  to  learned  eares  should  sweetly  sing, 
But  to  the  vulger  and  adulterate  braine 
Should  loath  to  prostitute  our  Virgin  straine.1 

When  Sir  Vaughan  says  — 

Horace  is  ambition,  and  does  conspire  to  bee  more  hye  and  tall  as 
God  a  mightie  made  him,  wee '11  carry  his  terrible  person  to  Court,  and  there 
before  his  Majestie  Dub,  or  what  you  call  it,  dip  his  Muse  in  some  licour. 
and  christen  him,  or  dye  him,  into  collours  of  a  Poet.2 

we  have  perhaps  an  allusion  to  the  differences  between 
Daniel,  who  was  poet-laureate,  and  Jonson,  who  wished  to  be. 
Hedon  (Daniel)  is  called  "ambition"  by  Philautia  in  Cynthia's 
Revels,  IV.  i. 

When  Cynthia  s  Revels  was  performed  at  court,  it  evidently 
failed  to  meet  with  approval,  for  when  the  quarto  was  pub- 
lished (1601)  it  bore  on  the  title-page  the  motto, — 

Quod  non  dant  proceres,  dabit  histrio  — 

Haud  tamen  invideas  vati,  quern  pulpita  pascunt. 

It  is  perhaps  to  the  state  of  affairs  indicated  by  this  motto 
that  Sir  Vaughan  refers,  when  he  tells  Horace  — 

.  .  .  when  your  Playes  are  misse-likt  at  Court,  you  shall  not  crye  Mew 
like  a  Pusse-cat,  and  say  you  are  glad  you  write  out  of  the  Courtiers 
Element.3 

One  of  the  most  interesting  references  to  Cynthia's  Revels 
is  in  the  passage  in  which  Dekker  identifies  Demetrius  with 
Hedon.4 

Horace.    That  same    Crispinus    is    the  silliest    Dor,    and    Fannius   the 
slightest  cobweb-lawne  peece  of  a  Poet,  oh  God  ! 
Why  should  I  care  what  every  Dor  doth  buz 
In  credulous  eares,  it  is  a  crowne  to  me, 
That  the  best  judgements  can  report  me  wrong'd. 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  213.  3  ibid.,  p.  262. 

2  ibid.,  p.  246.  *  See  above,  p.  80. 


128  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Asinius.    I  am  one  of  them  that  can  report  it. 

Horace.      I  thinke  but  what  they  are,  and  am  not  mov'd. 

The  one  a  light  voluptuous  Reveler, 

The  other,  a  strange  arrogating  puffe 

Both  impudent,  and  arrogant  enough. 
Asinius.    S'lid,  do  not  Criticus  Revel  in  these  lynes,  ha,  Ningle,  ha? 
Horace.     Yes,  they're  mine  owne.1 

The  four  men  satirized  in  Cynthia's  Revels  are  called  by 
Jonson  "Arachnean  workers,"  and  a  "knot  of  spiders,"  and 
their  conversation  is  called  "cobweb  stuff."2  It  is  this  to 
which  Dekker  alludes  in  the  expression  "  cobweb-lawne  peece 
of  a  Poet."  Horace  quotes,  with  slight  changes,  lines  of 
Crites  concerning  Hedon  (Daniel)  and  Anaides  (Marston). 

Crites.         What  should  I  care  what  every  dor  doth  buz 
In  credulous  ears  ?      It  is  a  crown  to  me 
That  the  best  judgments  can  report  me  wronged  ; 

'Tis  Hedon  and  Anaides,  alas,  then 

I  think  but  what  they  are,  and  am  not  stirred. 

The  one  a  light  voluptuous  reveller, 

The  other,  a  strange  arrogating  puff, 

Both  impudent,  and  ignorant  enough.8 

Passages  in  Poetaster  also  are  quoted  and  parodied  by 
Dekker,  and  there  are  numerous  allusions  to  the  play.  When 
Horace  is  discovered  in  his  study,  he  is  composing  a  poem  in 
which  Dekker  ridicules  some  lines  recited  by  Horace  in 
Poetaster,  III.  i. 

Swell  me  a  bowl  with  lusty  wine, 
Till  I  may  see  the  plump  Lyaeus  swim 

Above  the  brim  : 
I  drink  as  I  would  write, 
In  flowing  measure  filled  with  flame  and  sprite. 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  195. 

2  Cynthia's  Revels,  III.  2. 
8  ibid. 


SATIROMASTIX.  I  29 

Dekker  ridicules  particularly  the  last  line  and  the  word 
"swim,"  and  makes  Horace  say  :  — 

To  thee  whose  forehead  swels  with  Roses 

For  I  to  thee  and  thine  immortal!  name, 

In  flowing  numbers  fild  with  spright  and  flame.1 

The  book  that  Asinius  reads  "  smels  of  Rose-leaves,"2 
which  may  be  because  Horace  clips  his  "pen  in  distilde 
Roses."  3 

There  are  several  allusions  to  the  pills  given  to  Crispinus 
{Poetaster,  V.  1),  as,  for  example,  where  Crispinus  says  to 
Horace  :  — 

.   .  .  when  your  dastard  wit  will  strike  at  men 
In  corners,  and  in  riddles  folde  the  vices 
Of  your  best  friends,  you  must  not  take  to  heart, 
If  they  take  off  all  gilding  from  their  pilles 
And  onley  offer  you  the  bitter  Coare.4 

A  little  further  on  Crispinus  says  :  — 

We  come  like  your  Phisitions,  to  purge 

Your  sicke  and  daungerous  minde  of  her  disease.5 

The  scene  in  Poetaster  in  which  the  pills  are  given  to  Cris- 
pinus was  adapted  from  the  Lexiphanes  of  Lucian  —  a  fact 
which  is  referred  to  by  Tucca  when  he  calls  Horace  Lucian.6 

Jonson's  shabby  clothes  were  frequently  ridiculed  by  his 
enemies.  Tucca  calls  Horace  "that  Judas  yonder  that  walkes 
in  Rug,"7  referring  to  the  rug  gown  of  the  scholar.  Jonson 
had  referred  to  the  clothes  worn  by  Crispinus  and  Demetrius  : 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  191.      The  lines  omitted  represent  Horace  in  difficulties  over 
his  rhymes. 

2  ibid.,  p.  199.  5  ibid.,  p.  198. 
8  ibid.,  p.  197.  6  ibid.,  p.  235. 
4  ibid.  '  ibid.,  p.  199. 


I30  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Horace  (to  Crispinus).  Yes,  sir  ;  your  satin  sleeve  begins  to  fret  at  the 
rug  that  is  underneath  it,  I  do  observe  ;  and  your  ample  velvet  bases  are 
not  without  evident  stains  of  a  hot  disposition  naturally.1 

Histrio  (of  Demetrius).    O,  sir,  his  doublet's  a  little  decayed.   .  .  .  2 

Dekker  had  in  mind  these  two  passages  when  he  made 
Tucca  say  to  Horace  — 

Thou  wrongst  heere  a  good  honest  rascall  Crispinus,  and  a  poore  varlet 
Demetrius  Fanninus  (bretheren  in  thine  owne  trade  of  Poetry),  thou  sayst 
Crispinus  Sattin  dublet  is  Reavel'd  out  heere,  and  that  this  penurious 
sneaker  is  out  of  elboes.  .  .  .3 

In  another  passage  Tucca  says  to  Horace  :  — 

Good  Pagans,  well  said,  they  have  sowed  up  that  broken  seame-rent  lye 
of  thine,  that  Demetrius  is  out  at  Elbowes,  and  Crispinus  is  falne  out  with 
Sattin  heere,  they  have; 


Tucca.  1st  not  better  be  out  at  Elbowes,  then  to  bee  a  bond-slave  and  to 
goe  all  in  Parchment  as  thou  dost  ? 

Horace.    Parchment,  Captaine  ?  tis  Perpetuana  I  assure  you.4 

This  is  perhaps  a  reference  to  the  remark  of  Hedon  con- 
cerning Crites  (Jonson),  — 

"  By  this  heaven  I  wonder  at  nothing  more  than  our  gentlemen  ushers, 
that  will  suffer  a  piece  of  serge  or  perpetuana  to  come  into  the  presence  .  .  . 5 

Jonson's  slowness  in  writing  his  plays  was  evidently  a 
common  subject  of  jest.  He  stated  in  the  Envy  Prologue  to 
Poetaster  that  he  wrote  the  play  in  fifteen  weeks,  a  statement 
to  which  Tucca  refers  when  he  says,  "Will  he  bee  fifteene 
weekes  about  this  Cockatrice's  egge  too  ?  "  6 


1  Poetaster,  III.  1.  4  ibid.,  p.  245. 

2  ibid.  5  Cynthia's  Revels,  III.  2. 

3  Satiromastix,  p.  201.  6  Satiromastix,  p.  202. 


SATIROMASTIX.  I  3  I 

Tucca  calls  Horace  a  "  Nastie  Tortois  "  and  says  :  — 

.  .  .  you  and  your  Itchy  Poetry  breake  out  like  Christmas,  but  once  a 
yeare,  and  then  you  keepe  a  Revelling,  and  Araigning  and  a  Scratching  of 
mens  faces,  as  tho  you  were  Tyber  the  long-tail'd  Prince  of  Rattes,  doe 

you  ?  * 

One  new  play  each  year  was  written  by  Jonson  in  1598, 
1599,  1600,  and  1 60 1,  and  the  allusion  to  the  titles  of 
Cynthia's  Revels  and  Poetaster  or  his  Arraignment  is  apparent.2 

The  "  Ooh  !  "  uttered  by  Horace  3  is  a  reply  to  the  "  Ooh  !  " 
of  Crispinus  in  Poetaster  (V.   1). 

Horace,  in  Poetaster  (III.  1),  refers  to  the  poetry  of  Crispi- 
nus as  "  lewd  solecisms,"  but  in  Satiromastix  Horace  will 
"  rather  breath  out  Solcecismes"4  than  "wound  "  the  "worth  " 
of  Tucca. 

When  Tucca  says  to  Asinius,  "  arise,  deere  Eccho,  rise,"  5 
we  have  perhaps  an  allusion  to  Cynthia  s  Revels  (I.  1),  where 
Mercury  summons  Echo,  — 

Arise,  and  speak  thy  sorrows.  Echo  rise. 

Marston  evidently  resented  being  called  a  "  gentleman 
parcel-poet,"6  for  Tucca  says  "the  Parcell-Poets  shall  Sue  thy 
wrangling  Muse  in  the  Court  of  Pernassus  .  .  .  "  " 

When  Horace  is  about  to  be  tossed  in  a  blanket,  he  asks,  — - 

Why,  would  you  make  me  thus  the  ball  of  scorne  ? 

and  he  is  answered  by  Tucca  in  a  passage  full  of  allusions  to 
Poetaster. 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  259. 

2  Poetaster  is  referred  to  by  name  on  p.  235  of  Satiromastix. 

3  Satiromastix,  p.  260. 


*  ibid.,  p.  234. 

5  ibid.,  p.  230. 

6  Poetaster,  IV.  3. 

7  Satiromastix,  p.   235. 


132  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

He  tell  thee  why,  because  th'ast  entred  Actions  of  assault  and  battery, 
against  a  companie  of  honourable  and  worshipfull  Fathers  of  the  law  :  you 
wrangling  rascall,  law  is  one  of  the  pillers  ath  land,  and  if  thou  beest  bound 
too't  (as  I  hope  thou  shalt  bee)  thou  't  proove  a  skip-Jacke,  thou't  be  whipt. 
lie  tell  thee  why,  because  thy  sputtering  chappes  yelpe,  that  Arrogance  and 
Impudence  and  Ignoraunce,  are  the  essentiall  parts  of  a  Courtier.1 

In  Cynthia  s  Revels  (II.  1)  Mercury  says  of  Anaides 
(Marston)  :  — 

...  he  has  two  essential  parts  of  the  courtier,  pride  and  ignorance.  .  .  . 
'Tis  Impudence  itself,  Anaides  ; 

The  attack  on  law  and  lawyers,  made  by  Jonson  in  Poetaster, 
was  resented,  and  he  was  brought  before  the  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice for  it.  He  was  evidently  put  under  oath  not  to  repeat  the 
offence.  It  is  to  this  that  Dekker  probably  refers  in  the  fol- 
lowing passage  :  — 

Tucca  (to  Horace).  I  know  now  th'ast  a  number  of  these  Quiddits  to 
binde  men  to 'th  peace:  tis  thy  fashion  to  flirt  Inke  ineverie  man's  face;  and 
then  to  craule  into  his  bosome,  and  damne  thy  selfe  to  wip  't  off  agen  :  .  .  . 
I  could  make  thine  eares  burne  now,  by  dropping  into  them,  all  those  hot 
oathes,  to  which,  thy  selfe  gav'st  voluntarie  fire  (when  thou  was  the  man  in 
the  Moone)  that  thou  wouldst  never  squib  out  any  new  Salt-peter  Jestes 
against  honest  Tucca,  nor  those  Maligo-tasters,  his  Poetasters  j  I  could 
Cinocephalus,  but  I  will  not,  yet  thou  knowst  thou  hast  broke  those  oathes 
in  print,  my  excellent  infernall.2 

Further  reasons  for  tossing  Horace  in  a  blanket  are  thus 
given  by  Tucca  :  — 

lie  tell  thee  why,  because  thou  cryest  ptrooh  at  worshipfull  Cittizens,  and 
cal'st  them  Hat-caps,  Cuckolds,  and  banckrupts,  and  modest  and  vertuous 
wives  punckes  and  cockatrices.  He  tell  thee  why,  because  th'ast  arraigned 
two  Poets  against  all  lawe  and  conscience  ;  and  not  content  with  that,  hast 
turn'd  them  amongst  a  company  of  horrible  blacke  Fryers.3 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  244.  2  ibid.,  p.  235.  8  ibid.,  p.  244. 


SATIROMASTIX.  I  33 

The  last  statement  refers  of  course  to  the  arraignment  of 
Crispinus  and  Demetrius  in  Poetaster,  which  was  performed  at 
Blackfriars  by  the  Chapel  children.1  Albius  and  Chloe,  a  citi- 
zen and  his  wife,  are  in  Poetaster  (IV.  i  ;  IV.  3)  called  the 
names  mentioned  by  Tucca. 

Jonson  made  Demetrius  confess  that  his  reason  for  malign- 
ing Horace  was  — 

that  he  kept  better  company,  for  the  most  part,  than  I  ;  and  that  better 
men  loved  him  than  loved  me.   .  .  .  2 

Dekker  remembered  this,  and  Horace  is  made  to  say  — 

They  envy  me  because  I  holde  more  worthy  company.3 

When  Demetrius  appears  in  Poetaster  (III.  i)  Tucca  has 
just  ordered  Minos  and  the  two  Pyrgi  to  present  "the  Moor." 
This  evidently  annoyed  Dekker,  who  in  Satiromastix  says  that 
Fannius  "cut  an  Innocent  Moore  i'  th  middle,  to  serve  him  in 
twice  ;  and  when  he  had  done,  made  Poules-worke  of  it,4  as  for 
these  Twynnes,  these  Poet-apes  :  Their  Mimicke  trickes  shall 
serve."  5  The  title  "  Poet-ape  "  offended  the  men  to  whom  Jon- 
son applied  it,  for  when  Horace  has  taken  the  oath  Crispinus 
says  to  him  :  — 


1  The  fact  that  the  play  was  performed  at  Blackfriars  is  alluded  to  in  the  Epi- 
logue to  Satiromastix  spoken  by  Tucca,  who  says,  "  I  recant  the  opinions  which  I 
helde  [i.e.,  in  Poetaster]  of  Courtiers,  Ladies,  and  Cittizens,  when  once  (in  an 
assembly  of  Friers)  I  railde  upon  them  :  " 

2  Poetaster,  V.  1.  In  the  oath  administered  to  Crispinus  and  Demetrius,  they 
swear  that  they  will  never  again  malign  Horace  "for  keeping  himself  in  better 
acquaintance,  or  enjoying  better  friends." 

3  Satiromastix,  p.  244. 

4  The  allusion  to  the  Moor  is  explained  by  Mr.  Fleay  as  referring  to  The  Life 
and  Death  of  Captain  Thomas  Stukeley.  "  Dekker  had  patched  up  the  play  with 
half  of  one  by  Peele  on  the  Moor  Mahomet,  and  then  published  it."  Chronicle  of 
■the  English  Drama,  I.  128. 

6  Satiromastix,  p.  212. 


134  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

That  fearefull  wreath,  this  honour  is  your  due, 
All  Poets  shall  be  Poet- Apes  but  you  ; 1 

The  allusions  to  Poetaster  are  of  course  more  numerous 
than  those  to  any  other  play.  Dekker  borrowed  from  that 
play  the  characters  concerned  in  the  satire  on  Jonson,  and  the 
trial  scene  before  William  Rufus  is  based  on  the  last  scene  in 
Poetaster.  We  do  not  know  whether  Dekker  had  ever  heard 
or  read  the  Apologetical  Dialogue2  which  was  afterwards 
appended  to  Poetaster  in  the  folio  of  1616,  but  it  is  probable  that 
Jonson,  when  in  difficulty  with  the  lawyers  for  satirizing  them, 
had  made  representations  similar  to  those  in  the  Dialogue. 
He  claimed  to  have  attacked  only  sin,  and  to  have  spared  per- 
sons, and  this  seems  to  have  been  particularly  exasperating  to 
the  men  whom  he  had  undoubtedly  represented  on  the  stage. 
Dekker  has  made  much  of  this  declaration  of  innocence  on  the 
part  of  Jonson,  and  in  several  passages  Horace  is  upbraided  for 
satirizing  men  and  then  denying  having  done  so.  Demetrius 
(Dekker)  seems  to  have  no  bitterness  toward  Horace,  but  in 
every  speech  exhibits  a  magnanimity  that  is  in  sharp  contrast 
to  the  arrogant  and  self-sufficient  tone  of  Jonson's  satirical 
plays.  Mention  was  made  above  of  the  passage  in  which 
Dekker  speaks  of  four  men  as  pointing  "  with  their  fingers  in 
one  instant  at  one  and  the  same  man."  3  These  four  were 
the  men  whom  Jonson  had  attacked  in  Every  Man  out  of  his 
Humour  and  Cynthia  s  Revels.  These  men  probably  were 
responsible  for  the  writing  of   Satiromastix,  for,  so  far  as  we 


1  ibid.,  p.  263.  The  Envy  Prologue  to  Poetaster  asks,  "  Are  there  no  players 
here?  no  poet  apes  ? "  Epigram  56  is  On  Poet  Ape,  probably  Marston  or 
Dekker. 

2  Jonson  tells  us  that  the  Apologetical  Dialogue  was  "  only  once  spoken  upon 
the  stage,"  but  we  do  not  know  when.  The  note  appended  to  the  quarto,  1602, 
mentions  an  apology  which  the  author  was  "  restrained  ...  by  authority  "  from 
publishing  (see  above,  p.  102,  note  4). 

8  p.  76. 


SATIROMASTIX.  1 35 

can  judge  from  the  evidence  at  hand,  it  is  unlikely  that  Dekker 
would  have  undertaken  the  task  on  his  own  account. 

Horace  is  brought  before  King  William  Rufus,  and  is  by 
him  turned  over  to  Crispinus  (Marston)  for  punishment. 

King.  If  a  cleare  nienit  stand  upon  his  praise. 

Reach  him  a  Poet's  Crowne  (the  honour'd  Bayes) 
But  if  he  claime  it.  wanting  right  thereto, 
(As  many  bastard  Sonnes  of  Poesie  doe) 
Race  downe  his  usurpation  to  the  ground. 
True  Poets  are  with  Arte  and  Nature  Crown'd. 
But  in  what  molde  so  ere  this  man  bee  cast. 
We  make  him  thine  Crispinus,  wit  and  judgement, 
Shine  in  thy  numbers,  and  thy  soule  I  know. 
Will  not  goe  arm'd  in  passion  gainst  thy  foe  : 
Therefore  be  thou  our  selfe  ;  whilst  our  selfe  sit, 
But  as  spectator  of  this  Sceane  of  wit.1 

Throughout  the  play  Tucca  bullies  Horace  and  abuses  him. 
A  comparison  is  made  between  a  picture  of  the  Roman  Horace 
and  one  of  Horace-Jonson,2  who  is  thus  arraigned  by  Cris- 
pinus :  — 

Under  controule  of  my  dreade  Soveraigne, 
We  are  thy  Judges  ;  thou  that  didst  Arraigne, 
Art  now  prepar'd  for  condemnation  ; 
Should  I  but  bid  thy  Muse  stand  to  the  Barre, 
Thyselfe  against  her  wouldst  give  evidence  : 
For  flat  rebellion  gainst  the  Sacred  lawes 
Of  divine  Poesie  :  heerein  most  she  mist, 
Thy  pride  and  scorne  made  her  turne  Saterist, 
And  not  her  love  to  vertue  (as  thou  Preachest) 
Or  should  we  minister  strong  pilles  to  thee  : 
What  lumpes  of  hard  and  indigested  stuffe, 
Of  bitter  Satirisme,  of  Arrogance, 
Of  Self-love,  of  Detraction,  of  a  blacke 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  256. 

2  cf.  the  two  pictures  introduced  in  Antonio  a?id  Mellida  (see  above,  p.  98). 


I36  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

And  stinking  Insolence  should  we  fetch  up? 
But  none  of  these,  we  give  thee  what 's  more  fit, 
With  stinging  nettles  Crowne  his  stinging  wit.1 

This  is  the  reply  to  the  scene  in  which  Crispinus  is  given 
the  emetic  pills.2 

The  oath  which  is  administered  to  Horace  is  a  reply  both  to 
the  Palinode,  sung  by  the  false  courtiers  in  Cynthia  s  Revels, 
and  to  the  oath  taken  by  Crispinus  and  Demetrius  in  Poetaster. 
With  this  oath  the  formal  answer  to  Jonson's  play  ends. 


1  Satiromastix,  p.  259. 

2  Poetaster,  V.  1 . 


X. 

WHAT    YOU    WILL. 

The  last  play  of  Marston's  in  which  there  is  an  unmistakable 
attack  on  Jonson  is  What  You  Will,  first  published  in  1607.1 
We  do  not  know  when  it  was  written,  but  it  was  probably 
before  the  reconciliation  with  Jonson  (to  whom,  in  1604,  Mar- 
ston  dedicated  The  Malcontent2),  and  after  Poetaster  (1601), 
which  quotes  from  it  no  "fustian  "  words. 

That  the  play  contained  personal  satire  is  shown  by  the  tone 
of  the  Induction  spoken  by  Atticus,  Doricus,  and  Philomuse, 
friends  of  the  author.  They  refer  to  the  presence  near  the 
stage  of  Sir  Signior  Snuff,  Monsieur  Mew,  and  Cavaliero  Blirt, 
"three  of  the  most-to-be-feared  auditors."3  Philomuse,  the 
author's  particular  friend,  defies  and  tries  to  disarm  criticism 
by  declaring  that  the  author's  spirit  — 

Is  higher  blooded  than  to  quake  and  pant 

At  the  report  of  Scoff's  artillery. 

Shall  he  be  crest-fall  'n,  if  some  looser  brain, 


1  The  writer  in  The  North  British  Rtn'iew,  July,  1870,  thinks  that  Marston 
"made  a  study  of  him  [Jonson]  as  Malevole  in  The  Malcontent"  (p.  402);  and  also 
that  "  Jonson  seems  to  have  understood  the  play  [Parasitaster]  as  aimed  at  him, 
and  as  calling  him  both  parasite  and  fawn  "  (p.  404,  note  1).  There  seems  to  be  no 
sufficient  reason  for  either  of  these  statements. 

2  Sec  above,  p.  1 18. 

3  Mr.  Fleay  thinks  that  Sir  Signior  Snuff,  Monsieur  Mew,  and  Cavaliero  Blirt 
"  mean  Armin,  Jonson,  and  Middleton,"  and  that  Philomuse  is  "  Daniel,  whose 
Musophilus  was  written  1599."  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  77.  These 
identifications  must  stand  as  mere  conjectures,  for  there  seems  to  be  no  means  of 
proving  them. 


I38  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

In  flux  of  wit  uncivilly  befilth 
His  slight  composures  ?     Shall  his  bosom  faint, 
If  drunken  Censure  belch  out  sour  breath 
From  Hatred's  surfeit  on  his  labour's  front  ?  ' 

The  Prologue  also  defies  criticism  in  saying  of  the  author :  — 

Nor  labours  he  the  favour  of  the  rude, 

Nor  offers  sops  unto  the  Stygian  dog, 

To  force  a  silence  in  his  viperous  tongues  ; 

Nor  cares  he  to  insinuate  the  grace 

Of  loath'd  detraction,  nor  pursues  the  love 

Of  the  nice  critics  of  this  squeamish  age  ; 

Nor  strives  he  to  bear  up  with  every  sail 

Of  floating  censure  ;  nor  once  dreads  or  cares 

What  envious  hand  his  guiltless  muse  hath  struck. 

The  "  envious  hand  "  may  have  been  Jonson's. 

There  are  in  What  You  Will  two  characters  who,  whenever 
they  meet,  engage  in  mutual  abuse  and  wrangling.  Lampatho 
and  Quadratus  are  almost  certainly  representations  of  Marston 
and  Jonson  respectively.2  The  passage  which  indicates  clearly 
the  identity  of  Lampatho  is  as  follows  :  — 

Lampatho.      So  Phoebus  warm  my  brain,  I  '11  rhyme  thee  dead. 

Look  for  the  satire  :  if  all  the  sour  juice 

Of  a  tart  brain  can  souse  thy  estimate 

I  '11  pickle  thee. 
Quadratics.     Ha  !  he  mount  Chirall  on  the  wings  of  fame  ! 3 


1  This  is  possibly  an  allusion  to  the  scene  in  Poetaster  (V.  1)  in  which  Crispinus 
(Marston)  is  made  to  disgorge  the  "fustian  "  words. 

2  Professor  Ward  is  probably  mistaken  in  his  identification  of  Quadratus  with 
Hall.  He  says:  "  In  a  scene  (II.  1)  the  author  evidently  identifies  the  poet  Lam- 
patho Doria  with  himself,  and  the  foul-mouthed  Quadratus,  whom  Lampatho 
threatens  to  'rhyme  dead'  by  a  'satire,'  with  his  adversary,  Hall."  A  History  of 
English  Dramatic  Literature,  II.  64. 

3  cf.  Induction  to  Mucedorus,  "And  raise  his  chival  with  a  lasting  fame." 
"  Chirall  "  may  have  been  printed  for  "chival."  See  Mr.  Bullen's  note.  Marston, 
ed.  Bullen,  I.  349. 


WHAT    VOL      WILL. 


I  39 


Simplicius. 
Quadratus. 


Lampatho. 

Quadratus. 


Lampatho. 
Quadratus. 


A  horse  !  a  horse  !   My  kingdom  for  a  horse  ! ' 
Look  thee,  I  speak  play-scraps.     Bidet,  I  '11  down, 
Sing,  sing,  or  stay,  we  '11  quaff,  or  anything. 
Kivo.  Saint  Mark,  let  's  talk  as  loose  as  air  ; 
Unwind  youth's  colours,  display  ourselves, 
So  that  yon  envy-starved  cur  may  yelp 
And  spend  his  chaps  at  our  fantasticness. 
O  Lord,  Quadratus  ! 

Away,  idolater  !    Why,  you  Don  Kinsayder  ! 
Thou  canker-eaten  rusty  cur  !    thou  snaffle 
To  freer  spirits  ! 

Thinkst  thou,  a  libertine,  an  ungyved  breast, 
Scorns  not  the  shackles  of  thy  envious  clogs? 
You  will  traduce  us  into  public  scorn  ? 
By  this  hand  1  will. 

A  foutra  for  thy  hand,  thy  heart,  thy  brain  ! 
Thy  hate,  thy  malice,  envy,  grinning  spite  ! 
Shall  a  free-born,  that  holds  antipathy  — 
Antipathy  ! 

Ay,  antipathy,  a  native  hate 
Unto  the  curse  of  man,  bare-pated  servitude, 
Quake  at  the  frowns  of  a  ragg'd  satirist  —  2 


The  fact  that  Lampatho  is  called  "  Don  Kinsayder  ...  a 
ragg'd  satirist,"  is  sufficient  to  identify  him  as  Marston,3  who, 
at  the  end  of  his  note  "To  those  that  Seeme  Judiciall   Peru- 


1  Richard  III.,  V.  4.  This  line  was  parodied  by  Marston  in  the  The  Scourge  of 
Villanie,  Satire   VII.,   "  A  man  !  a  man  !  a  kingdom  for  a  man  !  "  and  in    Parasi- 

taster,  V.  1,  "A  fool,  a  fool,  a  fool,  my  coxcomb  for  a  fool  !  " 

2  11.  1. 

3  Mr.  Bullen,  while  recognizing  that  Marston  and  Jonson  both  appear  in  What 
You  Will,  makes  the  strange  mistake  of  identifying  Quadratus  with  Marston  and 
Lampatho  with  Jonson.  "  Quadratus' scathing  ridicule  of  Lampatho  Doria,  in  the 
first  scene  of  the  second  act,  was  certainly  aimed  at  some  adversary  of  Marston'-  ; 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  adversary  was  ben  Jonson  "  {Marston,  ed. 
Bullen,  I.  xlvi).  "  Curious  that  Marston  should  apply  his  own  nom  de  plume. 
'  Kinsayder,'  to  the  adversary  whom  he  is  bullying  !  "  Ibid.,  p.  xlvii.  It  would  in- 
deed have  been  strange  if  he  had.  "  But  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  Quadratus' 
abuse  of  Lampatho  was  levelled  at  Ben  Jonson."  Ibid.,  p.  xlviii.  Mr.  Bullen 
notices  the  similarity  between  the  speeches  mentioned  above. 


140  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

sers,"1  prefixed  to  The  Scourge  of  Villanie,  signed  himself 
W.  Kinsayder,  and  who  is  referred  to  as  "  Monsieur  Kinsayder" 
by  the  author  of  The  Return  from  Parnassus!1  The  passage 
quoted  above  shows  the  relations  existing  between  Quadratus 
and  Lampatho  throughout  the  play. 

That  Quadratus  is  Jonson  is  indicated  by  the  following 
speech  (II.  i)  which  imitates  a  speech  of  Crites  in  Cynthia's 
Revels,  III.  2.3 

Quadratus.     No,  Sir  ;  should  discreet  Mastigophoros, 
Or  the  dear  spirit  acute  Canaidus 
(That  Aretine,  that  most  of  me  beloved, 
Who  in  the  rich  esteem  I  prize  his  soul, 
I  term  myself)  ;  should  these  once  menace  me, 
Or  curb  my  humours  with  well-govern'd  check, 
I  should  with  most  industrious  regard, 
Observe,  abstain,  and  curb  my  skipping  lightness. 

A  noteworthy  encounter  between  Quadratus  and  Lampatho, 
in  IV.  i,  contains  two  allusions  which,  taken  together,  are 
almost  sufficient  to  fix  the  identity  of  the  two  men. 

Quadratus  (of  Lampatho).  A  tassel  that  hangs  at  my  purse-strings. 
He  dogs  me,  and  I  give  him  scraps,  and  pay  for  his  ordinary,  feed  him  ;  he 
liquors  himself  in  the  juice  of  my  bounty  ;  and  when  he  hath  suck'd  up 
strength  of  spirit  he  squeezeth  it  in  my  own  face  ;  when  I  have  refined  and 
sharp'd  his  wits  with  good  food,  he  cuts  my  fingers,  and  breaks  jests  upon 
me.  I  bear  them  and  beat  him  ;  but  by  this  light  the  dull-ey'd  thinks  he 
does  well,  does  very  well  ;  but  that  he  and  I  are  of  two  faiths  —  I  fill  my 
belly  and  [he]  feeds  his  brain  —  I  could  find  in  my  heart  to  hug  him  —  to 
hug  him. 


1  See  above,  p.  3. 

-  The  Return  from  Parnassus,  I.  2. 

3  Crites.      ...    If  good  Chrestus 

Euthus,  or  Phronimus  had  spoke  the  words, 

They  would  have  moved  me,  and  I  should  have  called 

My  thoughts  and  actions  to  a  strict  account 

Upon  the  hearing,  etc. 


WHAT    YOU    WILL.  141 

The  first  part  of  this  reminds  us  of  the  descriptions  of  Marston 
as  Carlo  Buffone,  "a  good  feast-hound  or  banquet-beagle,  that 
will  scent  you  out  a  supper  some  three  miles  off,"1  and  as 
"  Anaides  of  the  ordinary."  2 

The  beating  which  Quadratus  gave  Lampatho  was  perhaps 
what  Jonson  referred  to  when  he  told  Drummond  that  he 
"beat"  Marston.3  "He  and  I  are  of  two  faiths,"  is  a  state- 
ment referring  to  the  fact  that  Jonson  was  at  that  time  a 
Roman  Catholic.4 

The  stage  war  is  clearly  alluded  to  in  the  following  pas- 
sage :  — 

Quadratus.     The  Irish  flux  upon  thy  muse,  thy  vvhorish  muse. 
Here  is  no  place  for  her  loose  brothelry. 
We  will  not  deal  with  her.     Go  !  away,  away  ! 

Lampatho.      I  '11  be  revenged. 

Quadratus.     How,  prithee  ?  in  a  play  ?    Come,  come,  be  sociable. 
In  private  severance  from  society  ; 
Here  leaps  a  vein  of  blood  inflamed  with  love, 
Mounting  to  pleasure,  all  addict  to  mirth  ; 
Thou 'It  read  a  satire  or  a  sonnet  now. 
Clogging  their  airy  humour  with  — 

Lampatho.     Lamp-oil,  watch-candles,  rug-gowns,  and  small  juice. 

Thin  commons,  four  o'clock  rising,  —  I  renounce  you  all. 

Now  may  I  'ternally  abandon  meat, 

Rust,  fusty,  you  which  most  embraced  disuse, 

You  ha'  made  me  an  ass  ;  thus  shaped  my  lot, 

I  am  a  mere  scholar,  that  is  a  mere  sot.5 

It  is  probable  that  the  last  words  of  Lampatho  here  are 
ironical,  with  allusion,  however,  to  Jonson's  well-known  position 
as  a  scholar.      Crites  (Jonson)  is  said  by  Anaides  (Marston)  to 


1  "  Character"  of  Carlo  Buffone,  prefixed  to  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humow 

2  Cynthia's  Revels,  I.  1. 

8  See  Jonson's  Conversations  with  Drummond,  pp.  1 1 .  20. 

4  See  above,  p.  124. 

5  IV.  1. 


142  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

smell  "  all  lamp-oil  with  studying  by  candle-light." J  Rug 
gowns  were  worn,  not  only  by  scholars,  but  also  by  astrologers, 
and  we  have  a  record  of  Jonson's  having  officiated  on  one 
occasion  in  the  latter  capacity,  for  he  told  Drummond  of  an 
appointment  which  he  made  with  "a  lady  .  .  .  to  meet  ane 
old  Astrologer,  in  the  suburbs,  .  .  .  and  it  was  himself  dis- 
guysed  in  a  longe  gowne  and  a  whyte  beard  at  the  light  of 
dimm  burning  candles."2  There  are  numerous  allusions  to 
Lampatho  as  a  satirist,  and  also  to  Quadratus  as  being  fond  of 
wine.  A  probable  reference  to  Jonson's  physical  size  is  Lam- 
patho's  statement  (III,  2),  "I'll  make  greatness  quake:  I'll 
taw  the  hide  of  thick-skin 'd  Hugeness,"  to  which  the  following 
reply  is  made  :  — ■ 

Laverdure.     'T  is  most  gracious  ;  we  'II  observe  thee  calmly. 
Quadratus.     Hang  on  thy  tongue's  end.    Come  on  !  prithee  do. 
Lampatho.      I  '11  see  you  hanged  first,  I  thank  you,  sir,  I  '11  none. 

This  is  the  strain  that  chokes  the  theatres  ; 

That  makes  them  crack  with  full-stuff'd  audience  ; 

This  is  your  humour  only  in  request. 

Forsooth  to  rail  ;  this  brings  your  ears  to  bed  ; 

This  people  gape  for  ;  for  this  some  do  stare. 

This  some  would  hear  to  crack  the  author's  neck. 

It  is  probable  that  every  time  the  word  "hang"  is  used  in 
connection  with  any  representation  of  Jonson,  there  is  an  allu- 
sion to  his  narrow  escape  from  the  gallows.3  There  is  in  the 
lines  of  Lampatho  a  clear  indication  that  the  public  took  a 
keen  interest  in  these  satirical  plays.  Marston  did  not  forget 
to  ridicule  Jonson's  clothes,  for  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
act,  when  Quadratus  is  announced  Laverdure  says  :  — 

I  '11  not  see  him  now,  on  my  soul  :   lie  's  in  his  old  perpetuana  suit. 


1  Cynthia's  Xevets,  III.  2. 

2  /onson's  Conversations  with  Drummond,  p.  21 

3  See  above,  p.  7. 


what   you    will.  143 

When  Ouadratus  declares  (II.  1 ),  "  Epithalamiums  will  I 
sing,"  we  are  reminded  of  the  frequent  allusion  to  Jonson's 
P^pithalamiums  in  Satiromastix }  In  the  last  act  Quadratus  is 
made  to  use  "real,"  one  of  the  "new-minted  epithets"  so  ridi- 
culed by  Marston  in  The  Scourge  of  Villanie?  and  he  promises 
to  present  in  a  play  "a  subject  worth  thy  soul  ;  the  honour'd 
end  of  Cato  Utican."  Mr.  Fleay  thinks,  "possibly  this  is  the 
play  of  Ccesar  and  Pompey  afterwards  finished  by  Chapman, 
but  not  acted."  3 


1  See  above,  p.  1  20. 

2  See  above,  p.  8. 

3  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  76. 


XI. 


THE    RETURN   FROM   PARNASSUS   AND    TROILUS 
AND    CRESSIDA. 

In  our  discussion  up  to  this  point  we  have  found  no  evidence 
that  Shakespeare  was  involved  in  "  The  War  of  the  Theatres." 
The  Return  from  Parnassus,  a  play  "  Publiquely  acted  by  the 
students  in  Saint  Johns  Colledge  in  Cambridge  "  (as  we  are  in- 
formed by  the  title-page  of  the  quarto  edition,  1606)  contains 
one  of  the  most  interesting  references  to  the  quarrel  of  Mar- 
ston  and  Jonson,  for  upon  the  passage  have  been  founded  many 
of  the  stories  of  the  alleged  enmity  and  quarrels  of  Ben  Jonson 
and  Shakespeare.  The  Return  from  Parnassus  was  performed 
at  Christmastide,  160 1-2,  as  is  shown  bv  internal  evidence.1 


1  Professor  Arber  has  reprinted  the  quarto  edition  (1606)  of  this  play  in  The 
English  Scholar  s  Library,  No.  6.  Prefixed  to  the  text  is  a  short  discussion  of  the 
date  at  which  the  play  was  written.  Professor  Arber's  results  may  be  summarized  as 
follows  (references  are  to  pages  of  the  reprint) :  1.  The  play  is  the  last  of  a  series 
of  three  plays  by  the  same  author  (p.  5).  2.  It  was  written  and  represented  in 
Elizabeth's  reign  (p.  28).  3.  It  was  written  and  represented  subsequent  to  nth 
August,  1600.  On  this  date  Belvedere,  or  the  Garden  of  the  Muses,  the  work  at- 
tacked pp.  9,  10,  was  entered  at  the  Stationers'  Hall.  4.  It  was  written  for  a 
Christmastide  performance  at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge  (pp.  4,  5,42,64,66). 
As  Queen  Elizabeth  died  on  the  24th  March,  1603,  we  are  of  necessity  shut 
up  to  a  choice  between  the  Christmastides  of  1600-1,  1601-2,  1602-3.  5.  In- 
ternal testimony  establishes  the  writing  of  this  play,  for  a  first  representation,  in 
the  Christmastide  of  1601-2,  44  Eliz.,  possibly  for  a  New  Year's  Day,  which 
in  1602  (modern  reckoning)  fell  on  a  Friday.  The  dominical  letter  is  stated  (p. 
37)  to  have  been  C,  which  gives  January  1,  1602,  for  the  date.  The  dominical 
letter  of  1601  was  D,  which  explains  the  play  upon  the  letters  C  and  D  in  the 
reply  of  the  Page  to  Sir  Roderick  (Act  III.  Sc.  1,  p.  37),  "  C  the  Dominican  letter  :  it 
is  true  craft  and  cunning  do  so  dominere  ;  yet  rather  C  and  D  are  dominicall  letters 
that  is  crafty  Dunsery."     6.  This  date,  1601-2,  is  corroborated  by  the  allusion  to 


THE  RETURN  FROM  PARNASSUS.  1 45 

We  know,  from  the  passage  with  which  we  are  especially  con- 
cerned, that  the  play  as  we  have  it  was  written  after  the  per- 
formance of  Poetaster,  to  which  there  is  direct  allusion.  There 
is  in  the  play  much  criticism  of  poets  of  the  time,  including 
Jonson  and  Marston,  but  with  this  we  are  not  concerned.  We 
are  interested,  however,  in  the  following  passage  (IV.  3)  :  — 

Kenipe  (to  Burbage).  Few  of  the  university  pen  plaies  well,  they  smell 
too  much  of  that  writer  Ovid,  and  that  writer  Metamorphosis,  and  talke 
too  much  of  Proserpina  and  Juppiter.  Why  heres  our  fellow  Shakespeare 
puts  them  all  downe,  I  and  Ben  Jonson  too.  O  that  Ben  Jonson  is  a  pesti- 
lent fellow,  he  brought  up  Horace  giving  the  Poets  a  pill,  but  our  fellow 
Shakespeare  hath  given  him  a  purge  that  made  him  beray  his  credit.1 

What  was  the  "purge"  given  by  Shakespeare  to  Ben  Jon- 
son? The  natural  answer  is  "a  play."  But,  what  play? 
The  only  play  of  Shakespeare's  that  it  is  at  all  possible  to 
suppose  was  the  "purge"  is  Troilus  and  Cressida,  and  there  is 

the  siege  of  Ostend  and  the  Irish  Rebellion,  both  of  which  were  at  that  time  in 
progress  (pp.43,  50,  52).  7.  This  play  was  registered  for  publication  at  Stationers' 
Hall  on  the  16th  October,  1605,  and  appeared  in  print  with  the  date  1606.  Mr. 
Fleay  gives,  in  his  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  349-55,  an  interesting 
account  of  The  Return  from  Parnassus,  and  an  interpretation  of  the  various  char- 
acters. In  regard  to  the  date  he  says :  "  There  is  abundance  of  evidence  in  this 
play  that  fixes  the  date  to  1601  or  thereabouts"  (p.  349).  "The  siege  of  Ostend 
had  commenced,  Nash  was  deceased,  etc., — but  the  conclusive  datum  lies  in  the 
examination  of  Immerito,  from  which  we  learn  that  the  dominical  letter  was  C, 
and  that  the  last  quarter  of  the  moon  was  on  the  fifth  day  at  2  h.  3S  m.  in  the 
morning.  This  fixes  the  date  as  January,  1602-3,  and  if  confirmation  be  needed 
we  find  it  in  what  Momus  says  in  the  Prologue,  '  What  is  here  presented  is  an 
old  musty  show,  that  hath  lain  this  twelvemonth  in  the  bottom  of  a  coal-house ' " 
(P-  354)-  The  statement  of  Momus  may  be  taken  as  showing  that  the  play, 
although  written  in  1601-2,  was  not  acted  until  1602-3.  The  dominical  letter  of 
1603  was  B,  which  does  not  accord  with  the  statement  in  the  play. 

1  The  passage  is  given  here  as  it  is  in  the  quarto,  reprinted  by  Professor  Arber. 
Professor  Ward  interprets  the  first  mention  of  Ben  Jonson's  name  as  being  in  the 
nominative  case.  The  context  shows  that  it  is  an  object  of  "  puts  down  "  and  not 
a  subject.  Professor  Ward's  statement  is:  "The  actor  Kemp  says  —  with  some 
truth  —  that  our  fellow,  Shakespeare,  aye,  and  Ben  Jonson  too,  puts  down  all 
the  University  play-writers."      A  History  of  English  Dramatic  Literature,  II.  152. 


I46  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

evidence  which  seems  to  point  to  this  play  as  in  some  way 
connected  with  the  quarrel  between  Marston  and  Jonson.  The 
sub-play  in  Histriomastix  is  Troilus  and  Cressida,  in  which 
occur  the  lines:  — 

Thy  knight  his  valiant  elbow  wears, 
That  when  he  shakes  his  furious  speare 
The  foe  in  shivering  fearful  sort 
May  lay  him  down  in  death  to  snort.1 

In  Shakespeare's    Troilus  and  Cressida  (I.  3)  is  the  line  :  — 

When  rank  Thersites  opes  his  mastic  jaws. 

The  apparent  play  on  Shakespeare's  name  in  Marston's  line 
coupled  with  the  fact  that  it  occurs  in  a  parody  of  a  play  called 
Troilus  and  Cressida  makes  the  line  of  Shakespeare  seem  a 
reply.  That  it  is  so  is  by  no  means  certain,  for  Shakespeare's 
Troilus  and  Cressida  is  a  play  about  the  date  of  which  there  is 
considerable  doubt.  Henslowe  mentions  a  play,  by  Dekker 
and  Chettle,  called  "  Troyeles  and  creasse  daye,"2  and  this, 
increases  the  difficulty  of  deciding  whether  Marston  parodied 
Shakespeare's  play.  The  play  which  Henslowe  mentions  has 
not  come  down  to  us. 


1  Histriomastix,  II.  272-275. 

2  "Lent  unto  Thomas  Downton,  tolende  unto  Mr.  Dickers  and  harey  cheattell, 
in  earneste  of  ther  boocke  called  Troyeles  and  creasse  daye,  the  some  of  iii^, 
aprell  7  daye  1599."     Henslowe 's  Diary,  p.  147. 

"  Lent  unto  harey  cheattell  and  Mr.  Dickers,  in  pte  of  payment  of  ther  boocke 
called  Troyelles  and  cresseda,  xxs.,  the  [6  of  Aprell  1599."     Ibid.,  p.  148. 

"  Lent  unto  Mr.  Dickers  and  Mr.  Chettell,  the  26  of  maye  1599,  in  earneste  of  a 
Boocke  called  the  tragedie  of  Agamemnon  the  some  of  xxxs."     Ibid.,  p.  153. 

"  Lent  unto  Robarte  Shawe,  the  30  of  maye,  1 599,  in  full  paymente  of  the 
Boocke  called  the  tragedie  of  Agamemnone,  the  some  of  \\\£,  vs.,  to  Mr.  Dickers 
and  harey  chettell."     Ibid.,  p.  153. 

"The  Tragedie  of  Agamemnon"  is  clearly  the  same  play  as  "Troyeles  and 
creasse  daye."  Collier  says  in  his  note  that  the  title  Agamemnon  "  is  interlined 
over  the  words  '  Troylles  and  creseda.' "     Ibid.,  p.  153. 


THE  RETURN  FROM  PARNASSUS.  147 

As  the  present  form  of  Histriomastix  is  of  date  1599,1  the 
parody  of  Troilus  and  Cressida  which  it  contains  may  have 
reference  to  this  play  of  Dekker  and  Chettle.  It  this  is  the 
case,  there  is  no  connection  between  the  line  of  Marston  and 
the  line  of  Shakespeare.  The  assumption  that  there  is  a  con- 
nection between  the  two  lines  has  led  to  the  conclusion  that 
in  Shakespeare's  play  Thersites  is  Marston,  and  since  we  are 
told  that  Shakespeare  gave  Ben  Jonson  a  "  purge,"  it  has  been 
concluded  that  Ajax  is  Jonson.  Mr.  Fleay  supports  the  theory 
that    Troilus  and  Cressida  was  the  "purge,"  and  says  :  — 

The  ••  armed  Prologue  "  [Poetaster]  is  very  important.  He  appears  in 
'  confidence,'  and  is  unquestionably  alluded  to  in  the  "  armed  Prologue  "  to 
Troy  his  and  Cressida,  who  does  not  "  come  in  confidence."  It  is  then  in 
this  play  of  Shakespeare's  that  we  must  expect  to  find  the  purge  that  he 
gave  to  Jonson  in  return  for  the  pill  Jonson  administered  to  Marston  (cf.  Re- 
turn from  Parnassus,  IV.  3)  ;  and  whoever  will  take  the  trouble  to  com- 
pare the  description  of  Crites  in  Cynthia's  Revels  (II.  1)  with  that  of  Ajax 
in  Troylus  and  Cressida  (I.  2)  will  see  that  Ajax  is  Jonson:  slow  as  the 
Elephant,  crowded  by  Nature  with  "humors,"  valiant  as  the  Lion,  churlish 
as  the  Bear,  melancholy  without  cause  (compare  Macilente).  Hardly  a 
word  is  spoken  of  or  by  Ajax  in  II.  3,  III.  3,  which  does  not  apply  literally 
to  Jonson  ;  and  in  II.  1  he  beats  Thersites  of  the  '•  mastic  jaws  "  (I.  3,  73. 
Histriomastix,  Theriomastix)  as  Jonson  "  beat  Marston  "  (Drum.  Conv., 
11).  Thersites  in  all  respects  resembles  Marston,  the  railing  satirist.  But, 
it  will  be  objected,  Troylus  and  Cressida  was  not  acted.  It  was  not  staled, 
indeed,  on  the  London  stage,  but  in  1601  the  Chamberlain's  men  travelled 
and  visited  the  Universities  (see  Hamlet  in  my  Life  of  Shakespeare),  and 
I  have  no  doubt  acted  Troylus  and  Cressida  at  Cambridge,  where  the 
author  of  The  Return  from  Parnassus  saw  it.  The  "  purge"  is  from  II. 
3,  203,  "he'll  be  the  physician  that  should  be  the  patient."  When  the 
Chamberlain's  men  returned  to  London  at  the  close  of  1601,  Jonson,  Mars- 
ton, and  Shakespeare  were  reconciled,  and  Troylus  was  not  produced  on 
the  public  stage.'2 

In  this  passage  Mr.  Fleay  tries  to  prove  that  Troilus  and 
Cressida  was  the   "purge"   by  adducing  proof  that   Ajax  was 


See  above,  p.  32.  a  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  366. 


I48  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

Jonson.      With  the  passage  just  quoted,  compare  the  following 
statements  by  Mr.  Fleay  :  — 

My  hypothesis  is  that  the  "  physic  "  given  to  "  the  great  Myrmidon,"  I.  3, 
378;  III.  3,  34,  is  identical  with  the  "  purge  "  administered  by  Shakespeare 
to  Jonson  in  The  Return  from  Parnassus,  IV.  3,  and  that  the  setting  up  of 
Ajax  as  a  rival  to  Achilles  shadows  forth  the  putting  forward  Dekker  by 
the  King's  men  to  write  against  Jonson  his  Satiromastix.  The  subsequent 
defection  of  Thersites  from  Ajax  to  Achilles  would  then  agree  with  the 
reconciliation  of  Marston  and  Jonson  in  1601,  when  they  wrote  together 
Rosalindas  Complaint} 

In  another  passage  Mr.  Fleay  says  that  Dekker  is  Thersites 
in  Troiliis  and  Cressida? 

In  the  first  passage  Mr.  Fleay  states  that  Ajax  is  Crites  and 
therefore  Jonson,  Thersites  is  Marston  ;  in  the  second  passage, 
Ajax  is  Dekker,  Achilles  is  Jonson,  and  Thersites  is  Marston  ; 
in  the  third  passage  Thersites  is  Dekker.  Dr.  Cartwright  de- 
clares that  "  in  Troilus  and  Cressida  the  character  of  Thersites, 
be  it  accidental  or  intentional,  is  an  inimitable  caricature  of 
Crites  and  Horace,  that  is,  of  Jonson."3  These  contradictory 
statements  by  critics  who  advocate  the  theory  that  Troilus  atid 
Cressida  was  the  "  purge,"  are  sufficient  to  awaken  doubts,  even 
though  none  had  otherwise  existed,  as  to  the  correctness  of 
the  theory.  Were  it  not  for  the  passage  in  The  Return  from 
Parnassus,  it  is  not  improbable  that  Shakespeare's  name  would 
not  have  been  connected  with  the  quarrel  of  Jonson,  Marston, 
and  Dekker.     We  have,   however,  the  statement  that  Shake- 


1  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II.  189. 

2  ibid.,  I.  259. 

3  Shakespeare  and  fonson,  Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats,  p.  13.  The  writer  of 
an  article  entitled  "  Ben  Jonson's  Quarrel  with  Shakespeare  "  ( The  North  British 
Review,  July,  1870)  states  that  "  the  reply  to  the  Poetaster  was  Troilus  and  Cres- 
sida''' (p.  420)  ;  that  "Achilles  is  Jonson"  (p.  421),  and  "Thersites  is  Dekker" 
(p.  422).  The  same  critic  calls  attention  (p.  424)  to  the  interesting  fact  that  in 
Troilus  and  Cressida  Shakespeare  uses  many  unusual  words,  evidently  in  defiance 
of  Jonson's  ridicule  of  Marston's  words  in  Poetaster. 


THE  RETURN  FROM  PARNASSUS.  149 

speare  gave  Jonson  "a  purge  that  made  him  beray  his  credit," 
and,  for  those  who  do  not  believe  this  to  be  a  reference  to 
Troilus  and  Cressida,  and  who  fail  to  find  Jonson  satirized  in 
any  play  of  Shakespeare's,  there  remains  a  possible,  but  rather 
unsatisfactory  solution  of  the  difficulty.  Every  Man  in  his 
Humour  and  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour  were  first  acted 
by  the  Chamberlain's  company,  the  former  at  the  Curtain,  the 
latter  at  the  Globe,  which  was  built  in  1599.  Shakespeare 
was  one  of  the  actors  who  presented  Every  Man  in  his  Humour, 
but,  for  some  reason  unknown  to  us,  he  did  not  act  in  Every 
Man  out  of  his  Humour,  although  the  play  was  performed  by 
the  same  company.  The  latter  play  contained  Jonson's  first 
attack  on  Marston,  and  was  in  every  way  more  direct  and  bitter 
in  its  satirical  representation  of  contemporaries, — a  fact  which 
may  explain  Shakespeare's  taking  no  part.  Jonson's  connec- 
tion with  the  Chamberlain's  company  then  ceased,  and  his  next 
two  plays,  Cynthia's  Revels  and  Poetaster,  were  acted  by  the 
Chapel  children.  When  Dekker's  Satiromasiix,  voicing  the 
general  hostility  to  Jonson,  was  acted,  it  was  by  the  Chamber- 
lain's men  at  the  Globe  Theatre.  This  was  by  Shakespeare's 
company  at  Shakespeare's  theatre,  and  therein  may  have  con- 
sisted the  giving  of  the  "  purge  "  to  Jonson  by  Shakespeare.1 
The  author  of  The  Return  from  Parnassus  makes  no  mention  of 
Satiromastix,  unless  the  latter  play  be  after  all  the  "  purge." 
Gifford  maintained  that  the  "purge  "  was  merely  Shakespeare's 
great  superiority  to  other  playwrights.  The  "purge"  must 
have  been  something  more  definite  than  this,  and  was  presum- 


1  "  The  author  of  The  Return  from  Parnassus  could  not  have  supposed  that 
Shakespeare  was  the  author  of  the  Satiromastix  ;  nor  is  his  statement  explained 
by  the  fact  that  that  play  was  '  acted  publicly  by  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  ser- 
vants,' even  though  we  make  the  most  improbable  supposition  that  Shakespeare 
acted  the  part  of  William  Rufus  in  it."  The  North  British  Review,  July,  1870, 
p.  397.  The  explanation  is  not  unreasonable,  however,  in  spite  of  the  opinion 
quoted. 


150  THE    WAR    OF    THE    THEATRES. 

ably  a  play.  Dr.  Brinsley  Nicholson  attempts  to  cut  the  knot 
by  supposing  the  "purge"  to  have  been  some  play  of  Shake- 
speare's which  has  not  come  down  to  us — a  play,  moreover,  per- 
formed before  Poetaster}  The  latter  statement  is  at  variance 
with  the  evident  meaning  of  the  passage  in  The  Return  from 
Parnassus,  while  the  supposition  of  a  lost  play  is,  at  best,  weak. 
This  problem,  like  so  many  others  concerning  the  Elizabethan 
drama,  remains  without  any  really  satisfactory  solution,  and 
Shakespeare's  connection  with  "The  War  of  the  Theatres" 
rests  for  proof  wholly  on  the  unexplained  passage  in  The 
Return  from  Parnassus. 

There  have  been  numerous  theories  concerning  Shakespeare's 
plays  in  this  connection,  and  many  of  his  characters  have  been 
identified  by  critics  with  Jonson,  Marston,  Dekker,  and  other 
contemporaries.2  In  no  case  has  anything 
been   adduced  in   support  of  the  theories. 


1  "  It  appears  from  The  Return  from  Parnassus  (IV.  3)  that  amongst  the  rest, 
the  gentle  Shakespeare,  taking  up  the  cause  of  his  fellow  dramatists,  and  perhaps 
also  the  interests  of  himself  and  his  fellow  actors,  ridiculed  him  [Jonson]  in  some 
piece  that  has  not  come  down  to  us,  and,  in  the  purge  that  he  administered,  gave 
Jonson  the  precedent  for  Horace's  pills."  Ben  Jonson,  ed.  Brinsley  Nicholson, 
Mermaid  Series,  I.  262. 

2  For  a  presentation  of  some  of  the  various  views  of  the  relations  of  Shake- 
speare's plays  to  the  quarrel,  the  reader  is  referred  to  The  North  British  Review, 
July,  1870,  "Ben  Jonson's  Quarrel  with  Shakespeare,"  and  to  Dr.  Cartwright's 
monograph,  Shakespeare  and  Jonson,  Dramatic  versus  Wit  Combats.  A  specimen 
of  the  kind  of  criticism  by  which  Shakespeare  has  been  involved  in  the  stage  war 
is  the  following  passage  of  Dr.  Cartwright's  (p.  50)  :  "  We  may  take,  as  a  secure 
basis  or  ground  to  build  upon,  Jonson's  three  '  Comical  Satires,'  as  he  calls  them : 
Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour  was  brought  out  in  1 599  ;  Cynthia's  Revels  in  1600  ; 
and  the  Poetaster  in  1601.  Shakespeare  replies  to  the  first  in  Much  Ado,  followed 
by  As  You  Like  It ;  about  the  same  time  Marston  brings  out  the  first  and  second 
parts  of  Antonio  and  Mellida.  Shakespeare  then,  indignant  at  the  fresh  insults 
offered  to  himself  and  Lyly  in  the  characters  of  Amorphus  and  Asotus,  pours 
forth  his  wrath  on  Jonson  as  Apemanthus,  and  repays  Marston  for  the  travesty 
of  Hamlet  by  painting  him  as  the  Athenian  general  Alcibiades,  a  brave  soldier, 
but  of  dissolute   morals.      Marston  retaliates  on   Shakespeare  in  the   Malcontent; 


THE  RETURN  PROM  PARNASSUS.  151 

and  Jonson  in  the  Poetaster  takes  his  revenge  on  1» >t 'i  of  them.  Marston  replies 
again  in  the  Dutch  Courtesan,  and  Shakespeare  repays  both  Jonson  and  Marston 
in  Othello  as  well  as  in  Troiltis  and  Cressida."  "  Who  can  doubt  that  lago  is 
malignant  Ben  ?  "  Ibid.,  p.  28.  Mr.  Fleay  says :  "Shakespeare's 
or  What  You  Will,  which  introduces  Malevole  (Marston)  as  Malvolio,  and  ad- 
dresses him  in  an  anagrammatic  way  as  M.  O.  A.  I.,  i.e.  Jo.  Ma.  (John  Marston), 
I  take  to  be  his  rejoinder  to  the  two  plays  What  You  Will  and  The  Malcontent  in 
1601-2."  Chronicle  of  tin-  English  Drama,  II.  77.  "With  the  locking  up  of 
Crispinus  [Poetaster]  in  some  dark  place,  compare  the  imprisonment  of  Malvolio  in 
Twelfth  Night,"  ibid.,  I.  369. 


/  v 


XII. 

CONCLUSION. 

In  the  preceding  pages  has  been  set  forth  the  evidence 
showing  that  the  plays  discussed  were  connected  with  "  The 
War  of  the  Theatres."  That  these  were  the  only  plays  con- 
cerned in  the  quarrel  is  by  no  means  certain.  It  remains  to 
be  proved,  however,  that  other  plays  were  so  involved,  and  in 
the  absence  of  such  proof  the  discussion  has  been  confined  to 
these  fifteen  plays.  The  purpose  of  the  first  of  the  accom- 
panying tables  is  to  exhibit  the  relationship  of  these  plays  as 
regards  the  order  in  which  they  were  acted,  the  authors, 
theatres,  and  companies.  The  second  table  gives  in  sum- 
marized form  both  the  proved  and  the  conjectural  identifica- 
tions which  have  been  mentioned  in  the  discussion  of  indi- 
vidual plays. 


TABLE  No.   I.  —  PLAYS. 

In  these  tables  conjectural  matter  is  indicated  by  Italics. 


Play. 

Date. 

Author. 

Theatre. 

Company. 

Every  Man  in  his  Humour 

,;,,S 

Jonson 

Curtain 

Chamberlain's 

The  Case  is  Altered 

[598  > 

Jonson 

I'.l.u  kfriars' 

Chapel  children  - 

Histriomastix 

'599 

Marston3 

Curtain 

Derby's 4 

Every     Man     out     of     his 

'599 

Jonson 

Globe 

Chamberlain's 

I  Iumour 

Dekker 

Patient  Grissil 

1600 

Chettle 
Haughton 

Rose 

Admiral's 

Cynthia's  Revels 

1600 

Jonson 

Blackfriars' 

Chapel  children 

Antonio  and  Mellida 

1600 

Marston 

Paul's 

Children  of  Paul's 

lack  Drum's  Entertainment 

1600 

Marston 

Paul's 

Children  of  Paul's 

Antonio's  Revenge 

1600 

Marston 

Paul's 

Children  of  Paul's 

Poetaster 

[601 

Jonson 

Blackfriars* 

Chapel  children 

Satiromastix 

1 60 1 

Dekker 

Globe  (publicly) 
Paul's  (privately) 

Chamberlain's 
Children  of  Paul's 

What  You  Will 

iboi 

Marston 

Blackfriars' 
PauPs 

Chapel  children  5 
Children  0/  Paul's 

Troilus  and  Cressida 

16016 

Shake- 
speare 

at  Cambridge? 

Globe 

Chamberlain's 

The  Return  from  Parnassus 

[601-2 

? 

at  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge 

University  players 

The  Spanish  Tragedy 

1602 

(Kyd) 
Jonson 

Fortune 

Admiral's8 

1  The  Case  is  Altered  may  have  been  performed  before  Every  Man  in  his  Humour,  but  we  can- 
not prove  it  to  have  been. 

2  The  Case  is  Altered  "  was  performed  by  the  children  of  the  Queen's  Revels  at  the  Blackfriars'." 
A  H  istory  of  English  Dramatic  Literature,  A.  \V.  Ward,  I.  557.  Until  1604  this  company  was 
called  the  Chapel  children. 

3  See  above,  p.  31. 

4  See  above,  p.  33,  note  2. 

*  No  company  or  theatre  is  mentioned  on  the  title-page  of  the  quarto.  1607.  .Mr.  Fleay  thinks  it 
was  acted  by  the  Chapel  boys,  and  that  the  date  was  1601.  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  II. 
76.  Mr.  Bullen  puts  the  date  " shortly  after  the  appearance  of  Cynthia's  Re7'els."  Marston.  I. 
xlv.  Marston's  plays,  which  immediately  preceded  What  ) '<>«  //'/'//,  were  performed  by  the  chil- 
dren of  Paul's,  and  this  play  may  have  been  performed  by  the  same  company, 

0  Troilus  and  Cressida  as  we  have  it  seems  to  have  been  written  at  several  different  times,  some 
of  it  being  as  late  as  1606-7.  The  play  has  been  discussed  as  being  possibly  the  "  purge  "  referred 
to  in  The  Return  from  Parnassus,  a  play  performed  at  Cambridge  at  Christmas,  1601-2  or  1602-3. 
If  it  is  the  "  purge,"  which  is  at  least  doubtful,  the  reference  must  be  to  some  performance  after 
Poetaster  and  before  The  Return  from  Parnassus. 

7  Chronicle  of the  English  Drama,  Fleay,  I.  366. 

8  See  above,  p.  99.  Henslowe's  companv  was  the  Admiral's,  and  thev  acted  in  1601  at  the  Fortune 
Theatre. 


TABLE  No.   II.  — CHARACTERS. 

Identifications  which  may  he  regarded  as  certain  are  in  Roman  type,  and  those  which  are  doubt- 
ful or  incorrect  are  i?i  Italics.     References  are  to  pages  on  which  the  identifications  are.  discussed. 


The  Scourge  of  Villanie. 
Torquatus  =  Jonson  (pp.  2,  6). 

Every  Man   in   his  Humour. 

Master  Mathew  =  Daniel  (p.  24).  Justice  Clement  =  Lyly  (p.  20). 

George  Downright  =  Jonson  (p.  19).  Kitely  =  Ford  (p.  21). 

Master  Stephen  =  Shakespeare  (p.  17).  Cash  =  Nashe  (p.  21). 

Wellbred  =  Shakespeare  (p.  17).  Knowell  =  Chapman  (p.  2^). 

The  Case  is  Altered. 
Antonio  Balladino  =  Monday  (p.  37). 

HlSTRIOMASTIX. 

Chrisoganus  =  Jonson  (p.  33),  Marston  (p.  35). 

Posthast  =  Monday  (p.  38),  Shakespeare  (pp.  34,  42). 

Sir  Oliver  Owlet's  men  =  Pembroke's  company  (pp.  42,  116),  the  Chamberlain's 
company  (pp.  34,  114). 

Every  Man  out  of  his   Humour. 

Asper-Macilente  =  Jonson  (p.  57). 

Carlo  Buffone  =  Marston  (p.  44),  Dekker  (p.  46,  note  1). 

P'astidious  Brisk  =  Daniel  (p.  52),  Dekker  (p.  46,  note  1),  Lyly  (p.  52,  note  1). 

Fungoso  =  Lodge  (p.  56). 

Puntarvolo  =  Monday  (pp.   64,   92),  Lyly  (p.  64,  note  2),  Sir  John   Harington 
(p.  64,  note  2). 

Deliro  =  Monday  (p.  65,  note  1  ;  p.  no). 

Clove  =  Mars Ion  (p.  51,  note  1). 

Orange  =  Dekker  (p.  51,  note  1). 

Luculento  =  Drayton  (p.  55,  note  2),  Lord  Berkeley  (p.  55). 

Sogliardo  —a  Burbadge  (p.  6r,  note  2),  Ralph  Hogge  (p.  63). 

Sordido  =  <?  Burbadge  (p.  61,  note  2),  Hejislowe  (p.  62). 

Patient  Grissil. 
Emulo=  Daniel  (p.  69),  Jonson  (p.  68). 
Owen  =r  Lord  Berkeley  (p.  70). 

Cynthia's  Revels. 
Crites  =  Jonson  (pp.  76,  96). 

Anaides  =  Marston  (p.  77),  Dekker  (p.  46,  note  1  ;  p.  79 ;  p.  84,  note  2). 
Hedon  =  Daniel  (pp.  76,  81),  Marston  (p.  84,  note  2),  Dekker  (p.  84,  note  2). 


CHARACTERS.  I  55 

Asotus=  Lodge  (p.  S5),  Lyly  (p.  150,  note  2). 

Amorphus  =  Monday   (pp.   64,   90,   note    1  ;    92),    Shakespeare  (p.  94,  note   2; 
p.  150,  note  2),  Lyly  (p.  1 19,  note  4),  Barnaby  Rich  (p.  90,  note  3). 

\\  roNio  AND  Mellida. 
A  Painter  =  Jonson  (p.  98). 

Jack  I  iri  m's  En  n  ki  unment. 
Monsieur  John  fo  de  King=  Jonson  (p.  71). 
Brabant  Senior  =  Jonson  (p.  72),  Hall  (p.  73). 
Brabant  Junior  =  Marston  (p.  72). 
Sir  Edward  Fortune  =  Edward  Allcyn  (p.  73). 
Mammon  =  Henslowe  (p.  73). 
Timothy  Tweedle  =  Anthony  Monday  (p.  75). 
Christopher  Flawn  =  Christopher  Beeston  (p.  75). 
John  Ellis  =John  Lyly  (p.  75). 
Planet  =  Shakespeare  (p.  75). 
Pasquil  =  Nicholas  Breton  (p.  75),  Nashe  (p.  75). 

Poetaster. 
Horace  =  Jonson  (p.  107). 
Crispinus  =  Marston  (p.  107),  Dekker  (p.  107). 
Demetrius  =  Dekker  (pp.  79,  113). 
Tigellius  =  Daniel  (p.  109). 
Tibullus  =  Daniel  (p.  10S). 
Delia  =  Elizabeth  Carey  (p.  108). 

Pvid  =  Donne  (p.  108),  Shakespeare  (p.  108,  note  4;  p.  116,  note  4). 
Virgil  =  Chapman  (p.  109),  Shakespeare  (p.  109). 
Albius  =  Monday  (p.  no). 

Histrio  =an  actor  of  Pembroke's  company  (p.  1 16),  an  actor  of  the  Chamberlain's 
company  (p.  1 16). 

Satiromastix. 

Horace  =  Jonson  (p.  120). 

Crispinus  =  Marston  (p.  135). 

Demetrius  =  Dekker  (p.  120). 

William  Rufus  =  Shakespeare  (p.  119,  note  4). 

Sir  Vaughan  ap  Rees  =  Lyly  (p.  119,  note  4). 

What  You   Will. 
Quadratus  =  Jonson  (p.  138),  Hall  (p.  138,  note  2),  Marston  (p.  139,  note  3). 
Lampatho=  Marston  (p.  13S). 
Philomuse  =  Daniel  (p.  137,  note  3). 

Troilus  and  Cressida. 
Ajax  =  Jonson  (p.  147),  Dekker  (p.  148). 
Achilles  ■=  Jonson  (p.  14S). 
Thersites  =  Jonson  (p.  148),  Marston  (p.  147),  Dekker  (p.  148). 


IS  I 


INDEX 


Achilles,  148. 

Actors,  Memoirs  of,  122. 

acute,  91. 

Admiral's  company,  33,  68,  70. 

sEneid,  106. 

/Esop,  115. 

Affaniae,  48. 

Agamemnon,  146. 

Albius,  65,  89,  no. 

Alcibiades,  1 50. 

Alleyn,  Edward,  73,  74. 

Ambition,  82,  83. 

American  Journal  of  Philology,  34,  42. 

A  mores,  106. 

Amorphus,  39,  63,  64,  76,  So,  81,  84-96, 

99,  1 18,  120,  150. 
Anaides,  39,  46,  50,  76-82,  84,  85,  94, 

96.99,  109,  in,  132,  141. 
Antiquary,   The,  14. 
Antonio,  see  Ualladino. 
Antonio  and  Mellida,  1,  4,   74,   97,  98- 

ior,  114,  r  16,  117,  135,  150. 
Antonio's  Revenge,  98,  114,  ri6.  117. 
Apemanthus,  1  50. 
Apologetical  Dialogue,  2. 
Apologie  for  Poetrie,  14. 
Arber,  Edward,  14,  30,  93,  144,  145. 
Arete,  78,  95,  96. 
Argurion,  87,  88,  96. 
Ariosto  (tr. :   Harington),  64. 
A rist ins,  no. 
A  km  in,  Robert,  137. 
arride,  91. 
Ars  Poetica,  10. 


As  You  Like  It,  1 50. 

Asinius   Bubo,   119-122,    124,   126,    128, 

129,  13.. 
Asinius  Lupus,  I  19. 
Asotus,    IS,    hi.    76,   82,  85-90,  92,  93, 

150. 
Asper,  19,  20,  57.  125. 
Astraea,  ^,y 

Astrophel  and  Stella,  25. 
Atlnnicum,   The,  7,  8. 
Atkins,  W.  H.,  63. 
At  the  Author's  Going  into  Italy.  84. 
Atticus,  137. 
Augustus  CVesar,  104,  ro6,  116. 

Babulo,  70. 

Halladino,  Antonio,  37,  38,  gi,  94. 

barbarous,  82. 

Baudissin.  Wolf,  Graf  von.  16. 

belch,  36,  37. 

Belvedere,  or  the  Garden  of  the  Muses, 

.44. 
Ben  fousou's  Quarrel  with  Shakespeare, 

148,  150. 
Ben  Jonson  utid  seine  Schule,  16. 
Berkeley.  Lord  and  Eady.  55,  70. 
Biancha,  14. 

Bibliographers'  Manual,  93. 
Biographical   Chronicle  of  the   English 

Drama,  see  Fleay. 
Birde.  William,  99. 

Blirt,  137. 

Boar's  Head  Tavern,  63. 

Bobadil,  1  \,  22,  25,  59-61,  110. 


i58 


Bobadilla,  14. 

Booke  of  the  Seven  Planets,  1 18. 

Brabant  Junior,  72-74. 

Brabant  Senior,  71-74. 

Braimvorm,  14,  18,  22,  25,  60. 

breeches,  Pythagoricall,  120. 

Breton,  Nicholas,  75. 

Bridget,  14,  25,  27. 

Brisk,  Fastidious,  18,  44,  48-59,  65,  69, 

70,  81,  82,  84,  91. 
browne  Ruscus,  4,  12. 
Bubo,  see  Asinius. 
Buffone,  Carlo,    12,  44-53,   55,   56,   58, 

61,  64,  68,  77-80,  94,  98,  125,  141 
Bullen,  A.  H.,  3-5,  7,  9,  12,  73,  85,  99, 

138,  139- 
Burbadge,  Richard,  61,  145. 

Caesar,  see  Augustus. 

Ccesar  and  Pompey,  143. 

Camden  Society  Publications,  120. 

capreal,  51. 

capricious,  69. 

Carey,  Elizabeth,  52,  55,  70,  108. 

Carey,  George,  52. 

Carlo,  see  Buffone. 

Cartwright,  Robert,  17,  20.  21,  47, 

64,  85,  108,  120,  148,  150. 
Case  is  Altered,    The,  1,  31-43.  51,  58, 

91,  92,  94,  95,  106. 
Cash,  Thomas,  14,  21,  25. 
Cato  Utican,  143. 
Chamberlain's  company,  33,  34,  42,  44, 

61,  63,  77,    105,   114,  115,   119,  143. 

147,  149. 
Chapel  children,  77,99,  102,   119,   133, 

149. 
Chapman,  George,  14,  23,  28,  50,  74, 

105,  109,  118. 
Chester,  Robert,  118. 
Chettle,  Henry,  42,  46,  62,  68,  70, 

74.  146- 
Children  of  Paul's,  114,  115. 
chirall,  138. 


chival,  138. 

Chloe,  65,  89,  no,  n  1. 

Chrisoganus,  31-34,  101. 

Chronicle  of  the  English   Drama,  see 

Fleay. 
Cicero,  6. 
Cinedo,  4S. 
circumference,  51. 
Citizen  and  his  wife,  65,  77. 
Civill  Warres,  24. 
Clement,  14,  20,  21,  28,  29. 
Clout,  36. 

Clove,  31,  50,  51,  69,  71,  118. 
Cob,  14,  20,  22,  25. 
Colin  Clout,  24. 

Collectanea  Anglo-Poetica,  4,  48. 
Collier,  J.  P.,  14,  68,  99,  122,  146. 
Commentaries  on  American  Law,  105. 
Comodey  of  Umers,  14. 
Complaint  of  Rosamond,  53. 
compliment,  69. 
connive,  126. 
Constable,  Henry,  30. 
contemplation,  51. 
Conversations    with    Drummond,    Ben 

f orison's,  see  Drummond. 
Cordatus,  44,  45,  57,  65. 
Corser,  Rev.  Thomas,  4,  48. 
Cos,  85. 

Coxcomb,  The,  50. 
Criminal  Law  of  England,  History  of 

the,  105. 
Crispinus,  n,  35,  46,  71,  80,   106,   107, 

109,  110-119,  121-123,  125,  126,  129, 

13°.  133.  I3S.  l3&<  I38.  '51- 
Crites,  19,  76-79,  81,  83,  88,  89,  95-97, 

125,  140,  141,  147. 
Criticus,  19,  20,  125. 
Cumberland,   Anne,  Countess  of, 

54-  55- 
Cumberland,  Margaret,  Countess 

of,  54. 
Cunningham,  Peter,  21. 
Curtain  theatre,  149. 


'59 


Cutpurse,  Moll,  12. 

Cynthia's  Revels,  1,  5,  9,  18,  19,  39,  46, 
50,  63-65,  74,  76-97,  99-101,  1 10,  1 1  1, 
115,  117,  118,  120,  125-128,  130-132, 
134,  136,  140,  141.  M7.  <5°- 

Daniel,  John,  109. 

Daniel,  Samuel,  praise  of.  by  Mar- 
ston,  one  of  the  causes  of  the  "  War," 
6;  reason  suggested  for  Jonson's 
hostility  towards,  13,  24,  82,  96;  sat- 
irized by  Jonson,  as  Mathew,  Brisk, 
and  Hedon  (q.v.),  19;  poetry  of, 
satirized  by  Jonson,  Davies,  and. 
according  to  Fleay,  by  Shakespeare, 
24-3°-  53.  54  ;  as  Emulo  (q.v.),  51  ; 
facts  in  the  life  of,  54,  S2;  intimates 
in  Delia  that  he  has  been  wronged, 

55  ;  imitated  and  praised  by  Lodge, 

56  ;  as  Musus,  74;  called  a  "poet  in 
the  court  account "  by  Jonson,  82 ; 
plagiarism  of,  83;  referred  to  in 
Envy  prologue  to  Poetaster,  84  ;  not 
Ovid  or  Tibullus,  108;  possibly  Her- 
mogenes  Tigellius,  109  ;  relation  of 
John  Daniel  to.  F09 :  as  Philemon, 
'37- 

Daniel.  Works  of  Samuel  (ed.  Grosart), 

$3- 

Davies,  Sir  John,  54,  74,  89,  109. 

Davies,  Poems  of  Sir  John,  54,  75,  89. 

Decius,  74. 

Defence  of  Contraries,  The.  92. 

De  /-/nidus,  6. 

Deformed,  one,  94. 

Dekker,  Thomas,  quarrel  of,  with 
Jonson,  1  ;  reference  to  the  Troilus 
and  Cressida  of,  and  Chettle,  42,  146; 
not  Carlo  Buffone  or  Anaides,  46, 
79,84,85;  not  Orange,  51  ;  connec- 
tion of,  with  the  "  War,"  46,  51,  67, 
68,  70,  107,  113,  120;  not  Fastidious 
Brisk,  47  ;  "  hired  "  to  attack  Jonson 
in  Satiromastix,    67,     105,     I  14,     I  19, 


14S;  first  satirized  by  Jonson  as 
Demetrius  (q.v.),  67  ;  participation 
of,  in  J'atient  Grissil,  6S,  70 ;  collab- 
orates with  Jonson,  6S  ;  Guls  Home- 
booke  of,  quoted,  69,  in;  appro- 
priates to  himself  lines  of  Jonson 
which  referred  to  others,  80;  not 
Hedon,  S5;  possibly  referred  to  in 
the  phrase  «'  these  libels "  in  Poet- 
aster, 103;  possibly  one  of  the  "bet 
ter  natures"  referred  to  in  Poetaster. 
105;  not  Crispinus,  107;  refers  to 
Jonson's  allusions  to  Marston  in 
roe/aster.  1 1 1  ;  parodies  Jonson's 
pun  on  Crispinus,  112;  a  rapid 
writer  and  a  "dresser  of  plays,"  114, 
119,  121;  boast  of,  concerning  the 
Seven  Deadly  Sins,  114;  at  work 
upon  a  play  upon  the  story  of  Sir 
Walter  Terill,  119;  probably  had  a 
real  admiration  of  Jonson,  120: 
offended  by  the  reference  to  the 
"  Moor,"  133  :  shows  magnanimity  in 
his  attitude  towards  Jonson,  r  34 ; 
not  Ajax,  148;  not  Thersites,  148. 

Dekker,  Works  of  Thomas  (Grosart), 
70,112;  (Pearson),  22,  76,  80,  1 12. 

Delia,  24,  29.  30,  53,  56,  70,82-84,  10S. 

Deliro,  49,  55,  56,  58,  59,  64,  65,  89,  1 10. 

Delpbicke,  4,  5,  8-10.  50. 

Demetrius,  46,  68,  76,  79,  80,  105-108, 
no.  113,  114,  1 16-118;  (in  Satiro- 
mastix), 119-121,  127,  129,  130,  133, 
.36. 

demonstrate,  51. 

Derby's  company,  ^^  42- 

Desmond,  Ode  to,  10. 

detraction,  79,  80. 

Diary,  see  Henslowe,  Manningham. 

Dicace,  123. 

Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  21. 
52,  55,  62,  S5,  86,  S3,  92. 

di ti  1  long,  8  i-  93. 

Diogenicall,  51. 


i6o 


Discourse  of  English  Poetrie,  93. 

Discourse  of  Poesie  (Jonson),  24. 

Dodsley,  Robert,  Old  English  Plays, 
100. 

Dogberry,  94. 

Dominical  letter,  144. 

Donne,  John,  10S. 

Doricus,  137. 

Downright,  George,  14,  18,  19,  23,  24, 
26,  28,  29,  60. 

Downton,  Thomas,  146. 

Drake,  Nathan,  107. 

Dramatic  Literature,  A  History  of  Eng- 
lish, 109,  138,  145. 

Drama  tick  Poets,  English,  31,  107. 

Drayton,  Michael,  56,  74,  89,  no, 
118. 

Drummonl  of  Hawthornden,  Wil- 
liam, 2,6-8,  10,  12,  24,  35,  39,  40, 
41,  71,  72,  79,  82,  102,  105,  107,  113, 
123,  141,  142,  147- 

duel,  Jonson's,  7,  8,  68,  71,  122,  124, 
142. 

Dutch  Courtezan,  151. 

Dyce,  Alexander,  16. 

Early  London  Theatres,  105. 

Eastward  Ho,  105,  118. 

Echo,  131. 

ecliptic,  51. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  31,  33,  53,  87. 

Ellis,  John,  75. 

eloquence,  dumb,  53,  54. 

Emulo,  51,  55,  68-70,  121. 

Endimion  and  Pha-be,  74. 

English  Dramatic  Literature,  A  History 

of,  109,  138,  145. 
English  Dramatick  Poets,  31,  107. 
English  Poets  and  Poesy,  24,  38. 
English  Romayne  Life,  The,  92. 
Envy,  84,  134. 

Epigrammata  (Martial),  103,  106. 
Epigrams,  59,  ill  ;   (Jonson),  120,  133, 

'34- 


Epistle  to  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Rut- 
land, 82. 

Epithalamiums,  Jonson's,  120,  143. 

epithets,  new-minted,  4-1 1,  32,  50,  51, 
91,  117. 

Euphues  and  his  England,  20. 

Every  Man  in  His  Honour,  1,9,  13- 
30.  34,  35-  38>  44.  53-  5s,  60,  61,  77, 
79,  108,  115,  125,  149,  150. 

Every  Man  Out  of  His  Humour,  1,  5, 
9,  18-20,  22,  25,  32,  34,  35,  38-40, 
44-66,  69,  70,  71,  73,  76-78,80,82, 
85,89,90-94,98,  100,   108-110,  112, 

115,  11S,  119,  125,  126,  134,  141,  149, 
150. 

Faery  Queen,  22. 

Fallace,  55,  59,  65,  89,  no. 

Fantasy  of  the  passion  of  ye  fox,  9. 

Farneze,  69,  106. 

fastidious,  69,  70. 

fatuate,  117. 

Faustus,  16. 

Fig  for  Mom  us,  A,  47,  56,  57,  89. 

fist,  late  perfumed,  3,  8. 

Fitzgeffrey,  Charles,  48. 

Flawn,  Christopher,  75. 

Fleay,  F.  G.  (Chronicle  of  the  English 
Drama),  5-7,  14,  21,  32,  33,  40-43-  46, 
53-56,  61,  64,  65,  69,  70,  73,  75,  79, 
83,  89,  90,  94,  99,  100,   103,    108-110, 

116,  117,  127,  133,  137,  143,  145.  147. 
148,  151  ;  (History  of  the  Stage),  42, 
116;  (Life  of  Shakespeare),  147; 
(Shakespeare  Manual),  61,  67,  112. 

Fletcher,  John,  50. 

Ford,  John,  21. 

Formal,  14. 

Fortunatus,  33. 

Fortune,  Sir  Edward,  73. 

Fortune  Theatre,  -jt,,  116. 

Fugitive  Tracts,  10. 

Fungoso,  18,  19,  55,  56,  65,  85,  87,  89, 

108. 
furibund,  117. 


i6i 


FURNIVALL,    F.   J.,   IO. 

Fuscus,  i  io. 

fustian,  50,  69,  71,  91,  1 1 
30- 


8,  1  $8,  (cf. 


gallimaufry  of  language,  68,  69. 

Gallus,  109. 

games  in  Cynthia's  Rex  els,  77,  So,  95. 

Gascoigne,  George,  47. 

GELLIUS,   Aulus,  no. 

Genealogist,  The,  62. 

Geronymo,  99. 

Gifford,  William,  4.  8,   14,  22,  66, 

107,  109,  in,  116,  126,  149. 
Giulliano,  14. 

Globe  Theatre,  114-116,  149. 
Golde,  89. 
Gosse,  E.  W.,  56. 
Gosson,  Stephen,  87. 
Greene,  Robert,  16,  94. 
Grosart,  A.  B.,  4,  5,  n,  12,  16,  20,  24, 

38,  54,  70,  75,  83,  89,  99,  10S,  109, 

112,  113. 
Gulch,  36. 
Gnls  Ilorne-booke,  69,  III. 

Hake,  Edward,  47. 

Hall,  Joseph,  3,  4,  20,  21,  47,  48,  73, 

74-  138- 
Halliwell-Phillipps,  J.  O.,  4,  7,  II, 

71,  93,  IOO,  106. 
Hamlet,  150. 
hang,  142. 

Han  nam,  Horace,  22. 
Harleian  Miscellany,  92. 
Harington,  Sir  John,  64,  89. 
Haslewood,  Joseph,  24,  3S. 
Haughton,  William,  68. 
Have  with  you  to  Saffro>i  IValden,  20. 
Haywood,  John,  89. 
Hazlitt,  W.  C.,  14,  100. 
healths  drunk  kneeling,  50,  77,  78. 
Hedon,    18,  76-85,  87,  91,  93,  96,  99, 

109. 


Henry  IV.,  42. 
Henry  I'.,  16,  42. 
Henry  VI,  16. 

Henslowe,  Philip,  14,  33,  37,  46,  56, 

62,  63,  68,  73,  99,  100,  114,  146. 
Henslowe,  Philip,  62. 
1  [erbert,  William,  54. 

HERFORD,  C,  II  ,  23,  84,  85,  IOQ. 
Hermogenes,  see  Tigellius. 
Hero  and  Leander,  28. 
j    Hesperida,  14,  53. 
Hieronimo,  99,  123,  124. 

History  of  English  Dramatic  Literal  lire. 

A,  109,  138,  145. 
History  of  the  Stage,  42,  1 16. 
Histrio,  31-43,  105,  1  10,    III,    114-116, 

147. 
Histriomastix,  1,  13,  31-44.  50,  51,  71. 

94,  115,  146,  147. 
Hogge,  Ralph,  63. 
Honour,  82. 

Horace,  10,  102,  106,  no. 
Horace,  19,  20,  22,  35,  68,  79,  104-107, 

109-114,    116-118.    119;    (Satiromas- 

tix),  1 19-136. 
Hue  and  Cry  after  Cupid,   The,  120. 
humorous,  125. 

Humorous  Day's  Mirth,  A,  14. 
humours,  125. 

Hunterian  Club  Reprint,  87,  89. 
I  [UTH,  Henry,  10. 
Hymen,  The  Masque  of,  1 20. 

Idea.  74. 

If  I  freely  may  discover,  106. 

Immerito,  145. 

///  Dacum,  54. 

In  Decium,  75. 

inflate,  1 17. 

In  Galium ,  109. 

ingenious,  9. 

ingenuity,  51. 

Ingleby,  C.  M.,  62. 

/;/  Haywodum,  89. 


162 


intellectual,  51. 
intrinsecate,  4,  5,  8-10,  50,  91. 
Irish  Rebellion,  145. 
Italy,  travels  of  Daniel  and  Monday  in, 
84,  89. 

Jack  Drum's  Entertainment,  1,  40,  41, 
67-  7^-75'  78,  "4.  "6,  117- 

Jeronimo,  22. 

Jonson,  Benjamin,  quarrel  with  Mar- 
ston,  1,  2,  4,  31,  32,  39,  45,  67,  71,  72, 
113,  141,  144,  146;  with  Dekker,  r, 
2,  4  ;  as  Torquatus  (q.v.),  2  ;  accused 
of  "  venerie,"  2,  4,  40,  78 ;  use  of 
"new-minted  epithets"  by,  4-1 1,  32, 
50,  51,  91,  117,  143;  opima  spolia 
taken  by,  7,  123  ;  duel  and  trial  of, 
7,  8,  68,  71,  122,  124,  142;  "neck- 
verse"  of,  7,  121,  122;  branded,  7, 
8;  translation  of  Ars  Poetica  by,  10; 
ridicules  Marston's  diction,  11,  31, 
32,50,67,71,  91,  98,  117,  148;  ad- 
miration of,  for  "  Somerset,"  1 1 ;  dis- 
like of,  for  Daniel,  13,  24,  82,  96; 
relations  of,  with  Henslowe,  14,  99; 
views  of,  on  the  function  of  dramatic 
representation,  17  ;  not  Knowell,  17  ; 
not  Downright,  19  ;  as  Asper,  Crites, 
and  Horace  (q.v.),  19  ;  career  of,  not 
alluded  to  in.  Brainworm,  22  ;  rela- 
tions of,  with  his  step-father  possibly 
shadowed  forth  in  Every  Man  in  His 
Humour,  23  ;  no  friend  of  Daniel's 
verse,  24-30,  53,  54;  as  Chrisoganus 
(q.v.),  31-44  ;  allusions  of,  to  his 
poverty,  35,  107  ;  his  arrogance,  35, 
107,  135;  his  translations,  35;  shows 
Marston  how  to  write,  39 ;  as  John 
fo  de  King,  40,  41,  71  ;  and  Dekker, 
46,  67,  68  ;  as  Macilente  (q.v.),  57  ; 
shabby  clothes  of,  58,  77,  96,  129, 
142;  "rocky  face"  and  "mountain 
belly"  of,  59,  123,  142;  characters 
of,  usually  persons,  66;  not  Emulo, 


68,  69;  collaborates  with  Dekker, 
68 ;  possible  reference  to  duel  and 
bricklaying  of,  68,  120,  121  ;  sug- 
gested identification  of  Brabant  Sen- 
ior with,  72  ;  allusions  to  the  scholar- 
ship of,  77,  96,  129,  141  ;  pedantry  of, 
81  ;  and  Monday,  81,  92  ;  and  Lodge, 
88;  makes  use  of  quarrel  of  Marston 
and  Monday,  94,  96  ;  finds  it  diffi- 
cult to  get  money  on  his  works,  96 ; 
scene  of  Marston's  suggests  a  scene 
to,  98,  101  ;  as  "  a  Painter,"  98;  the 
word  "  limn  "  of,  ridiculed  by  Mar- 
ston, 99;  on  a  more  friendly  footing 
with  Marston,  100,  118,  137,  147; 
ridicules  soldiers  and  lawyers  and  is 
brought  before  the  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice, 102,  108,  132,  134;  personal 
attacks  in  the  early  comedies  of,  102  ; 
refers  to  "libels"  upon  him,  103; 
legal  difficulties  of,  because  of  his 
plays,  105;  learning  of,  shown  in 
Poetaster,  106;  and  Shakespeare, 
108,  109,  116,  144;  possibly  Davies's 
Gallus,  109;  references  of,  to  Mar- 
ston in  the  Epigrams,  ill;  ridicules 
Marston's  coat  of  arms,  112;  calls 
Dekker  a  "dresser  of  plays,"  114, 
119,  121;  exonerates  Marston  from 
having  had  a  share  in  Satiromastix, 
114  ;  last  attack  of,  on  Marston,  116; 
end  of  "War"  for,  118;  joins  with 
Marston  in  writing  plays,  118;  Mal- 
content dedicated  to,  118;  Dekker's 
admiration  for  the  really  good  quali- 
ties of,  120  ;  references  in  the  Satiro- 
mastix to  the  Epigrams  and  Epitha- 
lamiums  of,  120;  career  of,  as  an 
actor  referred  to  in  Satiromastix,  123; 
religion  of,  referred  to,  124,  141  ;  rela- 
tion of  the  plays  of,  to  the  times, 
125;  slowness  of,  in  writing  his  plays, 
130  ;  suggested  identification  of,  with 
Malevole,  137  ;  possibly  the  "envious 


-.63 


hand"  in    What   You    Will,   138;  as    I 
Quadratus    (q.v.),     138;     suggested 
identification  of,  with  Lampatho,  139; 
plays  the  astrologer,  142;   Marston, 
Shakespeare,    and,  reconciled,    147  ; 
suggested  identification  of,  with  Ajax 
(q.v.),    147  ;    personal    traits   of,   pos- 
sibly referred  to,  147  ;  suggested  iden- 
tification of,  with  Achilles  and  Ther- 
sites  (q.v.),  1 48  ;  a  "pestilent  fellow,*' 
14S  ;  suggested  identification  of,  with 
Apemanthus(q.v.),  150;  Cartwright's    ] 
view  of  the  connection   of,  with  the    | 
"  War,"  150;  suggested  identification    J 
of,  with  Iago,  151. 

Jonson,  Essay  on  the  Life  and  Dramatic 
1 1  'ritings  of  Ben,  1 6. 

Jonson,  A'otes  on  the  Conversations  of  Ben. 
see  Drummond. 

Jonsoiis  Quarrel  with  Shakespeare,  148, 
150. 

Jonson  unit  seine  ScAule,  Ben,  16. 

Jonson,  Mermaid  edition  of  Ben,  23,  51, 
84,  109,  1  50. 

Jonson,    Works  of  Ben  (Gifford),  4,  8 
22,  107,  109;  (Whalley),  104. 

Julia,  10S,  1 16. 

Juvenal,  4,  106. 

Kempe,  145. 

Kent,  James,  105. 

Kind  Hartes  Dreame,  62. 

King,  John  fo  de,  40,  41,  71,  72. 

King  Lear,  16. 

Kinsayder,  Don,  139,  140. 

"  Kinsayder,  W.,"  4. 

A'iss,  The,  84,  93. 

Kitely,  14,  21,  23,  25. 

Kitely,  Dame,  14,  27. 

Knowell,  14,  18,  22,  23,  25,  30. 

Knowell,  Edward,  14,  17,  18,  20,  23,  25- 

27,  30,  10S. 
Kyd,  Thomas,  99. 


Laberius   Decimus,  no. 

I  'rummond. 

Lambed  con,  W.  A.,  10. 

Lampatho,  13S    142. 

I. an.  aster,  15,  16. 

Landulpho,  43. 

Langbaine,  William,  31,  107. 

Lascivious  Knight  and  Lady  Nature^ 
The,  4J. 

Laureo,  70. 

law  and  lawyers,  Jonson's  attack  on, 
102,  10S,  132,  134. 

Laverdure,  142. 

Lee,  Sidney,  52,  NX. 

Legend  of  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy, 
no. 

Lenten  Stuffe,  38. 

letter,  Dominical,  144. 

Lcxipliaues,  106,  1 17. 

libel  and  slander,  laws  regarding,  105. 

libels,  103,  105. 

Life  and  Death  of  Captain  Thotnas 
Stukeley,  The,  16,  133. 

limn,  98. 

Locrine,  16. 

Lodge,  Memoir  of  Thomas  (Gosse),  56. 

Lodge,  Thomas  (Lee),  88. 

Lodge,  Sir  Thomas,  85-87. 

Lodge,  Sir  Thomas  (Welch),  86. 

Lodge,  Thomas,  as  Asotus  and  Fun- 
goso  (q.v.),  19  ;  Daniel  popular  with. 
and  other  critics,  24  ;  "censured  "  in 
Every  Man  in  //is  Humour,  30  ;  a 
satirist  before  Hall,  47  ;  fled  beyond 
seas  from  his  tailor,  56  ;  imitates  and 
praises  Daniel,  57  ;  referred  to  in 
Satiromastix,  76 ;  the  father  of,  85- 
87  ;  the  fortunes  of,  referred  to  in 
Cynthia's  Revels,  87  ;  a  physician,  S8; 
personal  appearance  described,  88 ; 
a  Jack-of-all-trades,  88  ;  The  Defence 
of  Contraries  attributed  to,  93. 

Lodge,  Works  of  Thomas  (Hunterian 
Club),  56. 


164 


London  Past  and  Present,  2 1 . 

London  Prodigal,  The,  59. 

Looking  Glass  for  London  and  England, 

A,  16. 
Lorenzo  Junior,  9,  14. 
Lorenzo  Senior,  14. 
Love's  Martyr,  1 1 8. 
Lowndes,  W.  T.,  93. 
Loyd,  W.  H.,  105. 
Lucian,  106. 
Luculento,  55,  70. 
Lyly,  John,  20,  21,  23,  52,  64,  75,  120, 

150. 

Macbeth,  16. 

Macilente,  25,  39,  45,  48-51,  53-55-  57  - 
59,62,  64,65,93,  101,  103. 

Mahomet,  133. 

Malcontent,  137,  150,  151. 

Malevole,  137,  151. 

Malvolio,  151. 

Mammon,  72-74. 

Manningham,  John,  120. 

Manlius,  Titus,  6-S. 

Marlowe,  Christopher,  12,  28. 

Marston,  John,  satires  of,  1-12,  47, 
48;  quarrel  of,  with  Jonson,  1,  2, 
4,  3l>32>  39.  45- 67.  68,  71,  72,  "3. 
147;  accuses  Jonson  of  "  venerie," 
24,  40,  78;  ridicules  Jonson's  "new- 
minted  epithets,"  4-1 1,  32,  50,  51,  91 
-117,  143;  diction  of,  ridiculed  by 
Jonson,  11,  31,  32,  50,  69,  71,  91,  98, 
117,  148;  relation  of,  to  the  author- 
ship of  Histriomastix,  31,  32  ;  repre- 
sents Jonson  possibly  as  Chrisoga- 
nus,  31-33  ;  possibly  himself  Chris- 
oganus,  34,  35  ;  and  Monday,  38,  39, 
94,  96 ;  as  Carlo  and  as  Anaides 
(q.v.),  39;  shown  by  Jonson  howr  to 
write,  39  ;  as  the  "Grand  Scourge  or 
Second  Untruss,"  46,  48,  64,  105, 
114,  117,  118;  a  gentleman  by  birth, 
49,    in,   112;    not  Clove   (q.v.),   51  ; 


the  author  of  Jack  Drum's  Etitertain- 
ment,  71  ;  probably  represented  Jon- 
son as  John  fo  de  King,  71  ;  as  Mel- 
lidus,  74  ;  as  Crispinus  (q.v.),  80 ; 
frequent  use  of  the  word  "  guts  "  by, 
81  ;  assumed  wrongly  to  be  Hedon, 
84,  85 ;  ridicules  Jonson's  word 
"limn,"  98;  suggestion  that  a  scene 
of  Jonson's  was  parodied  by,  99; 
age  of,  when  matriculated  at  Oxford, 
99 ;  on  better  terms  with  Jonson, 
100,  118,  137,  147,  148;  in  difficulties 
because  of  Eastward  Ho,  105,  118; 
and  the  study  of  the  law,  108 ;  hair 
of,  ridiculed,  1 1 1  ;  Dekker  refers  to 
Jonson's  allusions  to,  in  Poetaster, 
in;  gentle  birth  of,  referred  to,  1 1 1, 
112;  coat  of  arms  of,  ridiculed,  112, 
113;  exonerated  by  Jonson  from 
having  had  a  share  in  Satiromastix, 
114  ;  last  attack  of  Jonson  on,  116; 
joins  with  Jonson  in  writing  plays 
and  dedicates  Afalco/itent  to  him,  118, 
138;  Satiro7nastix  written  at  the  in- 
stigation of,  and  of  others,  119;  re- 
sented being  called  a  "gentleman 
parcel-poet,"  131 ;  as  Lampatho,  138; 
suggested  identification  of,  with 
Quadratus,  139;  reference  in  Troi- 
lus  to,  147  ;  reconciliation  of  Jonson, 
Shakespeare,  and,  147  ;  as  Thersites, 
148  ;  connection  of,  with  the  "  War," 
according  to  Cartwright,  150. 
j  Marston,  Poems  oj 'John  (Grosart),  4,  5, 
11,  12,  108,  113. 

Marston,  Works  of  John  (Halliwell- 
Phillipps),  4,  7,  11;  (Bullen),  4,  5,  7, 
9,  12,73,85,99,  138,  139. 

Martial,  103,  106. 

Martin,  21. 

Martin  Marprelate  controversy,  21,  105. 

Martin,  Richard,  102. 

mathematical,  51.  - 

Matheo,  14,  29. 


i65 


Mathew,  14,  18,  19,  20,  23,  24,  25-30, 
44,  79,81,83. 

Mavortius,  34,  36. 

May  Day,  50. 

Mellidus,  74. 

Memoirs  of  Actors,  122. 

Mercury,  77,  86,  91,  95,  97. 

Meres,  Francis,  24,  3S. 

Merry  Wives  of  IVindsor,  42. 

Metamorphosis  of  Ajax,  89. 

Metamorphosis  of  Figmalion's  Image 
ami  Certaine  Satyres,  5,  12,  47,  116. 

Metheglin,  120. 

Mew,  137. 

Middleton,  Thomas,  137. 

Miniver,  123. 

Minos,  1 10,  133. 

Misprision,  69. 

Mitis,  50,  57,  65,  66. 

Momus,  145. 

Monday,  Anthony,  as  Antonio  Balla- 
dino  (q.v.),  37  ;  pageant  poet,  38,  81, 
94,  95  ;  probably  I'osthast  (q.v.),  39  ; 
as  Puntarvolo  and  Amorphus  (q.v.), 
39;  a  "gentleman  scholar,"  43; 
hissed  off  the  stage  for  his  singing, 
43;  as  Deliro  (q.v.),  65;  suggested 
identification  of  Timothy  Tweedle 
with,  75;  relation  of,  to  Marston, 
Daniel,  and  Lodge,  76 ;  translations 
of,  90;  uses  "stale  stuff,"  91,  95; 
travels  of,  92  ;  The  Defence  of  Con- 
traries of,  92;  songs  of,  93,  94;  and 
Marston,  94 ;  reason  for  Jonson's 
satire  of,  96;  as  Albius  (q.v.),  no. 

Montague,  Anthony,  Viscount,  62. 

Moor,  the,  133. 

Moore,  Anne.  108. 

Moria,  80,  1 11,  126. 

Morphides,  1 18. 

Morus,  87. 

Muccdorus,  16,  10  r,  138. 

Much  Ado  About  Nothing,  94,  1 50. 

Musco,  14,  28. 


Musophilus,  137. 

Musus,  74. 

My  Picture  left  in  Scotland,  51;.  123. 

Myrmidon,  the  great,  148. 


II,  24, 


53-  7  5- 


"*tft,»'U 


Nashe,  Thomas,  20, 
94.  145- 

Xashe,   Works  of  Thomas  (Grosart),  24. 

Nasutus,  103. 

National  Biography,  Dictionary  of,  see 

Dictionary. 
natures,  better,  104. 
neck-verse,  7,  121,  122. 
Newes  out  of  Faults  Churchyarde,  4J. 
new-minted  epithets,  4-1 1,  30,  50,  51, 

91,  117,  143. 
Nicholson,  Brinsley,  i,  12,  14,  23, 

51,  71,84,  112,  113,  150. 
North  British  Review, 

1 48- 1 50. 
Notes  and  Queries,  10,  71,  113. 
Nottingham,  Earl  of,  68. 
oblatrant,  117. 
obstupefact,  117. 
Ode  to  Desmond,  10. 
Of  his  Lady's  not  coming  to  London,  1 18. 
0  happy  golden  age  !,  30. 
Old  English  Plays,  100. 
Old  Fortunatus,  67,  68. 
Onion,  37,  106. 
optic,  91. 

Orange,  31,  50,  51,  71. 
(  IRDISH,  T.  F.,  106. 
Oseas,  16. 

Ostend,  siege  of,  145. 
0  tears,  no  tears,  25. 
Othello,  151. 

Outlines  of  the  Life  of  Shakespeare,  106. 
(  ivii.,  103,  104,  106,  121. 
Ovid  Junior,  23,  104,  108,  n6- 
( >vid  Senior,  23. 
Owen,  55,  68,  70. 
Owlet's   Company,   Sir  Oliver,  33,  34, 

42,  115,  116. 


I« 


< 


1 66 


Page,  the,  144. 

"pagge  of  plimothe,"  68. 

Palinode,  the,  126. 

Palladis  Tamia,  24,  38. 

Palmer,  Sir  Henry,  87. 

Parasitaster,  137. 

parcel-poet,  111,  131. 

Pasquil,  73,  75. 

Patient  Grissil,  1,  16,  51,  56,  67-70. 

Pavier,  T.,  ico. 

Peele,  George,  32. 

Peele,  Works  of  George  (Dyce),  16. 

Pembroke,  Mary,  Countess  of,  54,  55. 

Pembroke's  company,  92,  116. 

Perry,  G.  G.,  21. 

Persius,  4. 

Peto,  14. 

Phantaste,  88,  90. 

Philarchus,  34. 

Philargyrus,  85,  86. 

Philautia,  81,  82,  83,  88,  91. 

Phil  lis,  24. 

Phillis  Hojioured  with  Pastoral  Sonnets, 

56,  87. 
Philomuse,  137. 
Piers  Pennilesse,  24. 
pill,  emetic,  11,  106,  117,  136,  145,  147. 
Pizo,  14. 
Planet,  73-75. 
Playwright,  epigrams  of  Jonson  on,  1 1 1, 

120. 
Plays  Confuted  in  Five  Actions,  87. 
Plays,  Dictionary  of  Old,  1 00. 
Plays,  Old  English,  100. 
Poet- Ape,  epigrams  of  Jonson  on,  120, 

133.  134- 
Poetaster,  1,  2,  4,  11,  22,  35,  39,  46,  65, 

67,   6S,   71,  79,  84,  89,  91,  98,   100- 

123,  125,  126,  128-134,  136,137,145, 

14S,  150,  151. 
polite,  91. 

Political  Use  of  the  Stage,  The,  94. 
Polyposus,  103,  105. 
pommado,  1 1,  82. 


Posthast,  34,  37,  38,  41-43,  94. 

Practise  (Saviolo),  90. 

Privy  Council,  Register  of  the,  105. 

Prodigal  Child,  The,  32,  42. 

projects,  69. 

Prologue,  armed,  147. 

Promos  and  Cassandra,  14. 

prorumped,  1 17. 

Prosaites,  85,  86. 

Prospero,  14,  29. 

Puntarvolo,  39,  46,  48-50,  80,  90,  92,  94. 

purge,  104,  145-15°- 

Pyrgi,  the,  no,  115,  116,  123,  133,  147. 

Pythagoran,  51. 

Pythagorical,  51,  91. 

Pythagoricall  breeches.  120. 

Quadratus,  138-143. 
Quintilian,  Sir,  123. 

Racster,  John,  iiS. 

Ramnusia's  whippe,  35. 

Rankins,  William,  47. 

reall,  4,  5,  8-10,  50,  143. 

Rebellion,  Irish,  145. 

reciprocal,  91,  118. 

reciprocally,  91. 

Register  of  the  Privy  Council,  105. 

Rendle,  William,  62. 

retrograde,  91,  117,  118. 

Return  from  Parnassus,  The,  1,  30,  90, 

104,  144-151- 
rhetoric,  sweet  silent,  53,  54. 
Rich,  Barnaby,  64,  90. 
Richard  Crookback,  37,  99. 
Robart  the  second,  Kinge  of  Scottes  Trag- 

cdie,  68. 
Robert,  Duke  of  Nor?nandy,  Legend  of, 

no. 
Roderick,  Sir,  144. 
Romeo  and  fuliet,  116. 
Rosalind's  Complaint,  148. 
Rosamond,  24. 
Rose,  the,  70. 


■  <>; 


Rowland,  89. 

Rufus,  William,  119,  125,  1  ",4.  135,  U'>- 
rug  gown,  129,  142. 
Ruscus,  browne,  4,  12. 
Rutland,  Elizabeth,  Countess  of, 
24,  82. 

St.  Bartholomew  the  Less,  Parish  of,  21. 

St.  John's  College,  144. 

St.  Saviour,  Parish  of,  62. 

Satires,  102,  106,  1 10. 

Satires,  1-12,  47,  48,  73,  74,  1 10. 

Satiro,  19. 

Satiromastix,  1,  35,  51,  67,  76,  80,  Si. 
103,  107,  112,  114,  117,  irS-136,  143, 
147. 

Saviolina,  53. 

Saviolo,  90. 

schei.ling,  f.  e.,  io. 

Schmidt,  Alexander,  16. 

School  of  Shakspere,  The.  15,  16,  31, 
32,  S5,  116. 

Scourge,  Grand,  46,  48,  64. 

Scourge  of  Villanie,  The,  2-6,  8,  9,  II, 
31,  32,  35,  46-48,  50,  51,  79,  91,  116, 
117,  143. 

Seccombk,  Thomas,  92. 

Seven  Deadly  Sins  of  London,  The,  114. 

Seven  Planets,  Booke  of  the,  11S. 

Seven  Satyr es  applied  to  the  Week,  47 . 

Shakespeare  and  fouson,  Dramatic  ver- 
sus Wit  Combats,  etc.,  see  Cartwright. 

Shakespeare  Burlesqued  by  Two  Fellow 
Dramatists,  34,  42. 

Shakespeare,  Life  of  (Halliwell-Phil- 
lipps),  106;   (Fleay),  147. 

Shakespeare  Manual,  6r,  67,  112. 

Shakespeare's  Library,  14. 

Shakespeare  Society  Publications,  6S,  1 22 ; 
(Transactions  of  the  Arew),  62,  94. 

Shakespeare,  William,  and  the 
"War,"  1,  17,  144-151;  not  criti- 
cised necessarily  in  the  Prologue  to 
Every  Af an   in   His  Humour,  14-16; 


not  Stephen  or  Wellbred,  17  ;  Jon- 
son  second  only  to,  33  ;  suggested 
identification  of  Posthast  with,  34, 
41-43;  suggested  reference  by.  to 
Daniel,  54  ;  suggested  identification 
of  Planet  with,  75;  suggestion  that 
the  nickname  "  Deformed  "  was  ap- 
plied by  his  critics  to,  94 ;  possibly 
one  of  the  "  better  natures,"  104  ;  and 
Jonson,  108,  109,  116,  144,  150;  sug- 
gested identification  of,  with  Ovid, 
to8  ;  with  Virgil,  109;  identified  by 
critics  with  at  least  one  character  in 
every  play,  119;  suggested  identifica- 
tion of,  with  William  Rufus,  119, 
120  ;  story  that  Jonson's  release 
after  his  duel  was  due  to  the  inter- 
vention of,  122;  "puts  down"  all 
the  University  playwrights,  145;  the 
"purge"  of,  145-150;  Jonson,  Mar- 
ston,  and,  reconciled,  147. 

Shakspeare  and  his  Time,  107. 

Shakspere  Allusion-Books,  62. 

Shakspere,  School  of  see  Simpson. 

Shaw  k.  Robert,  146. 

Shift,  59,  60,  104,  120. 

Shoemaker's  Holiday,   The,  33,  67,  68. 

Sidney,  Philip,  Sir,  14,  25,  54. 

Siege  of  Ostend,  145. 

Silence,  Justice,  89. 

Simpson,  Richard,  15,  16,  31,  32,  34- 
37,  40,  42,  43,  51,71,  72,  74.85,94. 1  '6. 

sintheresis,  69. 

Sir  Clyomou  and  Clamydes,  16. 

Smith,  Homer,  30. 

Snuff,  137. 

Sogliardo,  12,  19,  45,  49,  58,  60-62,  93, 
112. 

Somerset,  1 1. 

Sordido,  61,  62,  73. 

Southwark,  62,  63. 

Spanish  Invasion,  33. 

Spanish    Tragedy,   The,   22,   23,   25,  99- 


1 68 


Spencer,  Gabriel,  68,  121. 
Spenser,  Edmund,  22,  24,  54. 
Spenser,    Works  of  Edmund  (Grosart), 

24. 
spurious,  117. 
State  Papers,  87. 
Stationers1  Register,  8,  90,  144. 
Steel  Glass,  The,  47. 
Stephano,  14. 

Stephen,  14,  17-19,  26,  60,  61. 
Stephens,  Sir  James,  105. 
Stewart,  Lady  Frances,  120. 
Stulceley,  The  Life  and  Death  of  Captain 

Thomas,  16,  133. 
substantives  and   adjectives,  game  of, 

80,82,91. 
synderisis,  51,  69. 

Tempest,  The,  16. 

Terill,  Sir  Walter,  119. 

Terrotirs  of  the  Night,  The,  53. 

Theatres,  Early  London,  105. 

Theriomastix,  147. 

Thersites,  146-148. 

thing  done  and  who  did  it,  game  of,  a, 

77.  95- 

Thompson,  W.,  63. 

Thorello,  14. 

Tib,  14. 

Tibullus,  108. 

Tigellius,  Hermogenes,  106,  108-110. 

Timber,  Jonson's,  10. 

Torquatus,  2-1 1,  48. 

traveller,  95. 

Trebatius,  102. 

Troihts  and  Cressida  (Shakespeare),  1, 
42,  101,  144-151  ;  (sub-play  in  His- 
triomastix),  32,  42,  see  "Troyeles." 

tropic,  51. 

"  Troyeles  and  creasse  daye,"  146. 

True  Reporte  of  the  Death  and  Martyr- 
dom of  Thomas  Campion,  The,  43. 

True  Soldiers,  120. 

Tubrio,  12. 


Tucca,  22,  104,  no,  113-116,   121-125, 

129-133,  135. 
turgidous,  117. 
Tweedle,  Timothy,  75. 
Twelfth  Night,  65,  66,  86,  151. 

Udal,  Nicholas,  105. 
Underwoods,  10,  120,  123. 
un-in-one-breath-utterable  skill,  26. 
Untruss,  Second,  46,  48,  64,   105,   114, 
117,  nS. 

Vaughn,  Sir  Reesap,  1 19-123;  126, 127. 
venerie,  Jonson  given  to,  2,  4,  40,  78. 
ventosity,  117,  118. 
Virgidemiarum,  see  Hall,  Joseph. 
Virgil,  104,  106. 
Virgil,  109. 

Ward,  A.,  109,  138,  145. 

"  War  of  the  Theatres,"  the  term,  1,2; 
duration  of  the,  105  ;  ended  for  Jon- 
son, 118  ;  allusion  to,  in  What  You 
Will,  141  ;   plays  concerned   in  the, 

Warning  for  Fair  Women,  A,  15. 

Warton,  Thomas,  48. 

Watson,  Thomas,  30. 

Webee,  William,  93. 

Welch,  Charles,  86. 

Wellbred,  14,  17,  18,  23-27. 

Weston,  Hierome,  120. 

Whalley,  Peter,  104. 

What  You  Will,  1,  118,  137-143,  151. 
I    Wheatley,  H.  B.,  21. 
!    Whetstone,  George,  14. 

whippe,  Ramnusia's,  35. 

William  Rnfus,  see  Rufus. 

Winifride,  72. 

Winter's  Tale,  16. 

Wood,  Henry,  34,  42,  43,  116. 

Woodward,  Henslowe  servant  to,  62. 

York,  15,  16. 

Yorkshire  Tragedy,  The,  77. 

Zodiac,  51. 


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